"The Development of the South means the Enrichment of the Nation." 



F 206 
. S846 
Copy 1 



MOTTO: Business, no Politics, no Sectionalism. 



es 



Third Semi /Annual Convention 






THE SOUTHERN 



ASSOCIATION 



mmm 



XX HELD IN XX 

The City of New Orleans, La, 

LIMARY'OF CONGRESS, 
DECEMBER 4, 5, 6 and 7, 1900. «ccived 

JUL26 1901 • 

DIVISION OF DOCUMENTS. 






\ 



Note — The engraving of Marcellus E. Fost 
page 173, should have been upon page 133 in connection with 
his remarks. 



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DIES OE 

T(e Tfiiri snufwii Copi 




Souf^ern f aauetrlai flseoGiar 

(ELD B THE 

CUT OF HEW OBLEHHS, LB. 

leiiir i 5, (, i 



s 'OPFICERS. 

H. H. Hargrove, Presidents W. A. Hemphill, First Vice Pre** 

Shreveport, La - j I _ Atlanta, Ga^ 

N. F. THOMPSON, Secretary, New Orleans, La. 



V ICE PRESIDENTS. 



Hon. J. C Bush, 

Mobile, Ala./ 



Hon. Frank Hill, 

Little Rock, Arlc 



Hon. John P. Coffin, \ C. F. Huhlein, 

Lake Buftler, Fla. Louisville, Ky. 

Hon. Sidney Story, Hon. A. H. Longino, 

New Orle.ans, La. Jackson, Miss. 



Tom L. Cannon, ^ 

St. Louis, .Mo. 



Hon. D. A. Tompkins, 

Charlotte, N. C. 



W. B. Smith Whale y, i Col. J. B. Killebrew, 

Colu imbia, S. C. Nashville, Tenn, 



Hon. J. W. Biggins, j 

Waco,'} Tex. 



B. F. Johnson, 



Richmond, Va. 



M. -(H. KLINE. Philadelphia, Pa. 



STATE OF LOOII1. 



Louisiana joins her sister Southern States, in calling attention to- 
iler wonderful and Undeveloped resources — believing with them, that 
there is to be found a fruitful field for investment and exploitation.,, 
in agriculture, manufacturing and commerce, 

Louisiana has 45,000 square miles of territory, or 28,000,000' 
acres of land. The Mississippi River splits it in twain with far the 
larger portion upon its western banks. Along this great river, its 
many tributaries and outlying bayous, are found the alluvial lands 
of the State, some 19,000 square miles in extent — the greatest body 
of alluvial lands in the world, and protected against overflow by a 
splendid levee system, supported by State and Nation. 

The opinion prevails abroad that Louisiana is all alluvial, a low 
lying swamp, but the fact is that much more than half, or 26,000 ; 
square miles are uplands of varying character, consisting of bluff,, 
prairie, oak and hickory uplands, long and short leaf pine flats and 
hills, the latter rising as high as 500 feet in the northern part of the 
State. This great variety of soil admits of a great variety of crops,. 
The products grown are sugar, cotton, corn, rice, potatoes, tobacco;,, 
oats, wheat, sorghum, jute, ramie, hemp, grasses, clovers, alfalfa and! 
all the forage crops and vegetables, oranges, lemons, mandarins, olives 
and grapes. 

Of her 28,000,000 acres of land but a little more than 3,000,000 
are in cultivation, yielding last year some $90,000,000, distributed 
as follows: 

Cotton and by-products . . ■ $36,000,000* 

Sugar and Molasses 35,000,000 

Eice and by-products 7,000,000 

Torn, Oats' and Hay 10,000,000' 

Fruits and Vegetables, Live Stock, Etc '. 4,000,000' 

Total $92,000,000' 

This shows an acreage production of $30.00, the largest value 
acreage production of any State in the Union. 

The alluvial lands of the southern half of the State are largely 
devoted to the cultivation of sugar cane, and its manufacture into 
&ntrar and molasses is the chief agricultural industry. Half a million 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



le are engaged in the production. Nearly half a million acres 
of land are devoted to the cultivation producing some 3,000 pounds, of 
sugar and DO gallons of molasses per acre; half a thousand sugar 
1 houses convert it into merchantable products, yielding annually some 
316,183 long tons of sugar and 29,335,144 gallons of molasses worth 
$3-5.;jOQ0,0O0. This country imports something like 83 per cent, of 
the, sugar it consumes. Yet no less an authority than Dr. W. C. 
Stub'bs, Director of the Louisiana Experiment Stations, says Louis- 
iana lias sufficient land suitable to produce all the sugar necessary for 
consumption in the United States. There is great room here for 
expansion. 




HOX. J. G. LEE, 

Commissioner of Agriculture, State of La. 



"Bordering the Gulf coast, extensive orange groves are culti- 
vated with great profit. Other tropical fruits are raised there and 
rice fields are found along the rivers and bayous, while exten- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 3 

-"give truck farming adjacent to New Orleans gives profitable em- 
ployment to thousands and furnishes New Orleans and the northern 
markets with choicest vegetables. The remainder of the alluvial 
lands from Central to North Louisiana are devoted to cotton as the 
main money crop. These lands produce a bale to 1^ bales of cot- 
ton per acre, and lint of superior quality. Corn, peas, oats and 
hay are also raised here for home consumption. On all the alluvial 
lands of the State, well drained, the prince of forage crops, alfalfa, 
"is successfully grown. Yielding from five to ten tons per acre per 
annum and selling for $10.00 and $12.00 per ton. While rice was 
formerly grown almost exclusively along the bayous of the lower Mis- 
sissippi River — latterly the prairie lands of Southwestern Louisiana 
"have become the rice section. Here the uncertainty of "Providence 
i\ce farming" has given place to irrigation, and thus the rice industry 
of Louisiana has been revolutionized, capital has erected enormous 
pumping plants on, and constructed great irrigating canals from, the 
close lying bayous into the interior, and large crops of rice are now 
annually harvested. More recently, a large number of 8 and 10 
inch wells have been sunk, which, by the aid of proper pumping 
plants, are irrigating each 80 to 100 acres of land. The^e wells are 
multiplying daily, and by their use lands remote from streams, or 
'whose topography prevented economical flooding are brought into cul- 
tivation. 

There are now nearly 400 miles of canals constructed, irrigating 
about 225,000 acres of rice, while there are some 300 artesian wells 
"which will irrigate in the aggregate, 25,000 acres. Yielding annuaih' 
about 2,000,000 sacks of rice more than the combined crop of Geor- 
gia and the Carolinas. Implements and machinery common to the 
wheat fields of the West, find use in the rice fields. Lands that sole? 
for $1.00 per acre ten years ago now command $20.00, $30.00 and 
$50.00 per acre; lands too that will grow from ten to fifteen sacks 
of rice per acre, worth $3.'00 per sack. It is estimated that 20,000 
people from the North and West have come into this section in the 
las! fifteen years, and they are prosperous and contented. There are 
many thousand acres yet available for rice in this section, and room 
and welcome for many thousand more people into this, the most pros- 
perous section of the State. This section also produces fruit, corn, 
some cotton, oats, hay, peas, potatoes and vegetables for eveiw market. 

Upon the ''bluff"' lands of the State — 5,000 square miles in ex- 
tent — both sugar cane and cotton are produced as money crops. This 
soil is a fine silty, clay loam, somewhat rolling, drains well and is 
very fertile and very lasting. They produce a bale of cotton, twenty 
tons of sugar cane and forty bushels of corn per acre. Tobacco, 
cigar-type, hay, potatoes, oats, peas, vegetables, fruits, melons, 
and other forage crops are also successfully grown. 

On the remaining lands of the State, embracing the long leaf 



4 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



pine flats and pine Kills, the good oak and hickory uplands, some 
18,000 square miles in extent, a general system of diversified farming; 
•prevails. Nine-tenths of the rural white population of the State live 
there, own their farms, and do their own work. The general, 
character of the soil is gray and red sandy with yellow and red clay 
?andy sub-soils — natrually productive and wonderfully responsive to 
intelligent fertilizing. The average new soil will produce from one- 
half to three-quarters of a bale of cotton and twenty-five to thirty 
bushels of corn per acre, which yields may be doubled by the appli- 
cation of 300 pounds of commercial fertilizer. Cotton is the main 
money crop of this section, though fruits, melons, vegetables, cane 
syrups and poultry produce a large revenue. 




DR. AY. 6. STUBBS, 

Director La. Experimental Station. 



These lands lie mainly between the Ouachita and Red Rivers, and 
are known as the hills of North Louisiana, some of them rising as 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-j, ipoo. 5 

high as 500 feet. On these sandy soils, fruits of excellent flavor, 
melons of superior sweetness, truck products of splendid quality are 
produced in superabundance. 

It is here also that the finest type of bright leaf tobacco is pro- 
duced, rivaling in quality that of Cuba, (so said by experts of North 
Carolina and Virginia.) No section of the country can grow a 
greater variety of crops successfully. Besides the crops mentioned, 
-•corn, peas, oats, wheat, barley, rye, hay, sorghum, all the forage 
crops, sugar cane, upland rice, sweet and Irish potatoes, peanuts, 
chufas, artichokes, strawberries, melons, vegetables, peaches and 
ether fruits are raised. 



DAIRYING AND STOCK RAISING. 

While dairying and stock raising are receiving considerable atten- 
tion in the State, they have not reached the large proportions that 
the natural advantages of the State justify, for the nature of the soil 
and climate are favorable to both. 

Our soils, unaided, will supply native grasses to maintain stock 
•nine months of the year. Alfalfa, and the great variety of grasses, 
clovers and forage crops so successfully* grown on our soils; our short 
winters, requiring shelter and extra feed for only a few months in a 
year; our numerous watercourses, creeks, branches and springs, fur- 
im" string an abundance of good water at all seasons, all conspire to make 
Louisiana a most desirable location for all kinds of stock raising. 

In addition to ample pasturage and luxurious forage for cattle 
raising, fattening cattle for market, has superior advantages. Cot- 
ton seed meal and hulls from our many cotton seed oil mills 
ihe rice bran, polish and shorts from our rice mills, and cheap mo- 
lasses from our sugar houses, provide the most economical feeding 
rations anywhere obtainable for cattle feeding, and thousands of 
cattle from Louisiana and other States are annually fattened and 
shipped to Northern and Western markets. 



TRUCK FARMING. 

Truck farming in Louisiana requires more than passing notice. 
Thousands of dollars are annually brought to the farmers of the 
State by this business. The lands adjacent to New Orleans, Baton 
Rouge, Alexandria, Shreveport and Monroe, and lands along the 
I. C, and the Y. & M. Y., the T. & P., the Kansas City Southern, 
the Y. S. and P., the Iron Mountain and the Fort Jackson and Grand 
Isle Railroads, produce annually thousands of crates of early vege- 
tables, potatoes, strawberries, cantaloupes and watermelons. 



> Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention? 

TRANSPORTATION. 



The State has 2,500 miles of railway, reaching all parts of it. 
Many of these are trunk lines and most of the remainder have suck; 
connections, offering outlets for our products to the North and East.. 
There are nineteen railways now running and others building. The 
State has a Railroad Commission with absolute power and control 
over fixing rates on railways, steamboats, express companies, etc. 
Add to this our many miles of navigable streams, and but few States 
of the Union can surpass the transportation facilities of Louisiana. 
There are nearly 4,000 miles of navigable streams reaching every 
parish in the State except three, with some 1200 miles of Gulf coast 
bordering on our southern limit. The mouth of the "Father of 
Waters," finds its outlet here, connecting the State with the immense 
territory stretching from the Appalachian to Rocky Mountains, and 
outward with every port of the globe. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of the State is ideal; summers are prolonged, but 
proximity to the Gulf insures against extremes of cold and heat. 

The prevailing winds in summer are from the South, cool and 
moisture laden, always assuring comfort. Sunstrokes are of rare 
occurrence. The thermometer at New Orleans seldom reaches 98 
degrees, while it frequently shows 100 to 105 in northern cities, ac- 
companied with sunstrokes, by the score. 

Likewise in winter the thermometer rarely goes below 20 de- 
grees in the southern part of the State; 15 in the northern part, 
with an average respectively of 53 and 45, while in the North it is 
not uncommon to find it that many degrees below zero. Neither - 
in summer nor in winter does it ever get so hot or so cold as to pre- 
vent outdoor work. 



RAINFALL. 

Louisiana is especially blessed with an abundant rainfall. In 
the southern part of the State the average annual rainfall is 70 inches 
and in the extreme northern part it is 45 inches. By way of com- 
parison the maximum rainfalls of the following States is submitted: 

Louisiana, 64 inches; Oregon, 49 inches; Missouri, 48 inches;. 
Kentucky, 46 inches; Texas, 45 inches; Indiana, 44 inches; Illinois,, 
43 inches; Ohio, 41 inches, and Kansas, 38 inches. 



■ Held in New Orleans, December 4-/, 1900. 7 

HEALTH. 

Perhaps no State in the Union has suffered more than has Lou- 
isiana on account of ignorant and adverse criticism of its health, 
when an examination of health statistics would have shown the con- 
trary. The health of a country depends largely upon its geographic 
situation, its topographic character and its climatic conditions. In 
these respects, the conditions for good health are favorable for Lou- 
isiana. The highlands are naturally healthful, while the low lands 
are made so through good drainage and the use of pure drinking 
water; pulmonary troubles, tuberculosis, do not prevail here like in 
States North and West. The white death rate per 1000 from 1886 
to 1897 for New Orleans, was 23.46; for New York, same period, 
"it was 24.44; "Washington, 22.76, and Boston 23.46, and this record 
"without a system of sewerage for New Orleans, which she now has. 
In New Orleans in 1897 there were but six diseases causing death, 
while in San Francisco there were 20; in New York, 19; in St. Louis, 
10; in Chicago, 9, and in Boston, 25 — thus showing New Orleans heir 
to fewer diseases than the cities mentioned. 

For the care of the sick and wounded Louisiana is provided with 
a Charity Hospital in New Orleans, and one in Shreveport, with four 
private similar institutions in New Orleans. 

EDUCATION. 

Louisiana provides a splendid system of public schools in all the 
parishes of the State, with terms of six to nine months, while all 
the towns and cities are provided with free high schools. For higher 
education and industrial training > the State has its State University 
and A. & M. College, the Southern University for colored people, 
two normal colleges and two industrial colleges. 

TIMBEB RESOURCES. 

Louisiana is abundantly supplied with vasts forests -of pine, cy- 
press and hardwood timbers. There are 28,300 square miles of 
standing timber, and estimated 25,000,000,000 feet of standing pine 
timber — board measure — and nearly that much of cypress and hard- 
wood timbers, consisting of oak, gum, hickory, poplar, cotton wood 
and ash. In the forest is abundant raw material for all kinds of 
lumber and wood manufactures, while the cotton fields are invit- 
ing to cotton manufacturing. Two large cotton factories are in oper- 
ation in New Orleans, and others projected. 

Shreveport, Monroe and New Iberia have in course of construc- 
tion $100,000 cotton factories, while there are eight or ten more 
'4owns of the State projecting such factories. With her agriculture, 



8 Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 

Louisiana must have manufactories, and her great abundance of raw" 
material will accommodate a variety of them. 

New Orleans is the chief commercial City of Louisiana and of 
ihe Southwest. She is the natural gateway for the export and im- 
port trade of the Mississippi Valley and Latin America. New Or- 
leans has a population of over 300,000. The largest sugar, rice and 
cotton market in the world, fifteen miles of river front, more than 
six miles of wharves, and over 210 miles of paved streets. 

The Marine Dry Docks now building by the United States Gov- 
ernment for this port will be the largest in the world. 

For the year ending July, 1900, her exports increased 32 per- 
cent over the previous year. Imports increased 47 per cent. Ves- 
sels entered and cleared at her port, 3,097; tonnage, 4,646,064; in- 
crease of 17 per cent. 

It has the largest coastwise business in the Union. $14,000,000 
is being expended for sewerage. 

A splendid street car system of 160 miles. 

Tor maps of the State and printed matter relating to the State's 
resources, apply at the Louisiana Exhibit at the Pan-American Ex- 
position, or to J. G. Lee, Commissioner of Agriculture and Immi- 
gration, Baton Rouge, La. 



lings of 1(11 mini siN-Mii Oonveniioaof 



TQe Silip Industrial Association. 



The morning session of the first 
•day was called to order by President 
H. H. Hargrove, of Shreveport, La., 
at 10:30 A. M., Tuesday, December 
4th, 1900, at Tulane Hall, in the City 
of New Orleans, La. President Har- 
grove, in opening the proceedings, 
said: 

"I esteem it a distinguished honor, 
and feel it a great pleasure, to call 
to order the Third Semi-Annual Con- 
vention of the Southern Industrial 
Association — a body composed of pa- 
triotic business men, whose labor is 
the expression of love, and whose 
aim is to build up the waste places 
and utilize the neglected opportuni- 
ties of the South. 

"I believe this gathering will serve 
as a flashlight to the South, pene- 
trating unto its uttermost borders, 
and illuminating elements of wealth 
practically untouched and hitherto 
-comparatively unknown. 

"The expert industrial and com- 
mercial electricians who are here, 
will erect for us a pyramid of light 
during the next four days, which will 
dispel every shadow of darkness that 
may have hung over the South in 
the past, and reveal with more than 
meteoric brilliancy, the blessings 
which are in store for the Industrial 
South in the future. We shall dis- 
cern from that light the accumulated 
wealth of centuries lying at our feet, 
and inviting us to enter in and pos- 
sess it, for the enrichment of our- 
selves and our posterity. 

"I believe that every member of 
this body has come to aid in making 
this Convention what it seeks to be 
for the South, and hence you will aid 
the officers in their respective duties, 



and grant them the indulgence they 
will need to guide its deliberations 
aright. 

"After the opening prayer of Bish- 
op Sessums, I shall turn over the 
morning programme to Hon. Sidney 
Story; Chairman of the local Com- 
mittees of Arrangements, and Vice- 
President of the Association, as the 
addresses of welcome and responses 
are under the auspices of these local 
committees. 

"I congratulate the South and the 
City of New Orleans, on the great 
industrial awakening which this Con- 
vention indicates." (Applause). 

Bishop Sessums then opened the 
proceedings with prayer, beginning 
with the prayer from the Episcopal 
Prayer Book, "Let the words of my 
mouth and the meditation of my 
heart be always acceptable in Thy 
sight, O Lord," followed by the 
Lord's Prayer and the prayer for 
those in authority, concluding by in- 
voking the Divine blessing on the 
Convention in the following terms: 
"Almighty God, who knowest our in- 
terests before we ask and our ignor- 
ance in asking, bless these Thy ser- 
vants who are here to promote the 
interests of industry and the material 
prosperity of this land. Teach them 
that this life consists not only in 
what a man possesses but in the 
knowledge of Thee, the only true 
God, and that true wealth is in the 
righteousness of a nation. Teach 
them to multiply the opportunities 
for toil, to lessen hunger, and suffer- 
ing and so to advance the cause of 
material progress that this nation 
may not fall into luxury, but rise 



10 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



both in moral and intellectual devel- 
opment. Bless these Thy servants 
in ennobling and elevating commerce 
and making it a benevolent rela- 
tionship between man and man, and 
to promote harmony and helpfulness 
between all sections of the country 
and all classes of citizens. Strength- 
en, God, their allegiance to Thee 
the only King, and accept their ser- 
vices in the hastening of the com- 
ing of Thy Kingdom, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord: 

"The Grace of Jesus- Christ our 
Lord, and the fellowship of the Holy 
Ghost be with us now and forever- 
more. Amen." 

PRESIDENT HARGROVE. 

"Gentlemen of the Convention: 

"We were invited at Chattanooga 
last May to meet in the City of New 
Orleans. The speaker who put in 
nomination this city was Mr. Sidney 
Story. (Applause.) His labors have 
been long and continuous to get 
ready the elaborate reception which 
this city has tendered our visiting 
brethren. These speeches will be 
most appropriately delivered under 
the auspices of the Arrangements 
Committee of which Mr. Story is 
Chairman, and therefore, I turn the 



meeting over to Mr. Story at this 
time." (Applause.) 

Mr. Story, in assuming the gavel,, 
said: "Mr. President and Gentlemen 
of the Convention: I would be un- 
appreciative indeed did I not take 
advantage of this opportunity to ex- 
press my deep sense of the honor and 
pride I feel in having to preside over 
the deliberations of this imposing 
Convention. A Convention the dis- 
cussions of which are destined to 
play an important part in the bear- 
ing of the commercial energies and 
activities of this great country, and 
the elucidation of the problems which 
will be brought before you are des- 
tined, I believe, to be seed sown in 
fruitful soil to germinate into a vast - 
number of lucrative enterprises. 

"I desire briefly to welcome my 
fellow delegates, those who are here 
and those who are to be here with us 
during the session of this Conven- 
tion, representing over twenty odd 
States of this great republic, and I 
will now introduce to you a distin- 
guished fellow-citizen, who, in the* 
name of the people of this common- 
wealth, will bid you hearty welcome. 
It gives me pleasure, gentlemen, to 
introduce to you Governor Heard of 
Louisiana. (Applause.) 



ADDEESS OF WELCOME. 

BY GOV. W. W. HEARD, OF LOUISIANA. 



Governor Heard then addressed the 
Convention as follows: 
"Mr. President and Delegates to the 
Southern Industrial Convention: 
"The pleasing duty has been as- 
signed to me of voicing the sincere 
welcome that the people of Louisi- 
ana are proud to extend to you on 
this occasion, which they regard as 
the beginning of an era of unexam- 
pled advance for the Southern coun- 
try. They va.lue highly the compli- 
ment conferred upon them by your 
progressive organization in having 
selected their promising metropolis 
for its Third Semi-Annual Conven- 
tion. They observed with approving 
interest your initial conventions at 
Huntsville and at Chattanooga, and 
they were impressed with the convic- 
tion that the plans which you for- 
mulated for the promotion of all the 



Southern industries were well and 
wisely laid to enlist into harmonious 
co-operation the manufacturing, agri- 
cultural, commercial, railway, river 
and maritime, and the financial and 
educational interests of the entire 
country, in the upbuilding of these 
interests, and in the development of 
the infinite and marvelous resources 
of our Southland. 

"The States of Alabama, Arkansas, 
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisi- 
ana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, 
North and South Carolina, Tennes- 
see, Texas, Virginia and West Vir- 
ginia, embrace a territory of no less 
than 900,338 square miles, an area 
four and one-half times as great as 
France with her 39,000,000 of inhabi- 
tants, who boast of a wealth and 
power of the highest rank among- 
the great nations of the world. With— 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-f, 1900. 



in the territory of our Southland, 
the one hundred and seventy-five 
millions of Prance, Germany, Austro- 
Hungary and Great Britain could be 
easily accommodated with homes and 
fields of labor. Yet, this more than 
imperial domain had only 12,128,078 
inhabitants in 1860, and 13,752,600 in 
1870. Considering the abnormal con- 
ditions which have impeded Southern 
progress since 1860, the recent census 
of 1900 discloses a very gratifying 
increase. According to this census, 
the population of the Southern States 
amounts to 27,577,346, which exceeds 
by 4,385,476 the population of the en- 
tire Union in 1850, which was al- 
ready a great nation at that period, 
and is but 3,866,745 below the total 
population of the Union in 1860, the 
year which preceded the outbreak of 
the Titanic war between the States, 
which must be accounted as the 
greatest war of modern times. 

"In its Northern and Central tiers 
of States, in addition to, cotton, the 
South possesses all of the agricul- 
tural and mineral productions of the 
Northern and Western States. The 
same thing may be said of several 
of the Gulf States, where, besides 
cotton, rice, sugar cane, and in the 
southernmost regions, the tropical 
fruits, are produced in abundant 
quantities. The entire South pre- 
sents superb advantages for stock 
and sheep raising, truck farming, 
fruit culture, and many other indus- 
tries. Its forests are comparatively 
untouched, though its lumber indus- 
tries are developing immense wealth 
for the lumbermen. Its bays, coasts 
and rivers, abound with bivalves and 
fishes of every variety. All the South- 
ern States offer unrivalled natural 
advantages in inland or maritime 
navigation, and their geographical lo- 
cation opens to them boundless trade 
possibilities with the markets of the 
far Bast and with South Africa, when 
the Nicaragua Canal, the Interconti- 
nental Railway, and the improvement 
of the Western and Southern water- 
ways shall, as they must, be soon 
undertaken and completed, with the 
aid of the United States Government. 
There are no extremes of heat or 
cold in the Southern climates, which 
maybe compared, according to lati- 
tudinal position, to those of France, 
Italy, Spain and Portugal, and, re- 



ports to the contrary notwithstandl- 
ing, the South can be classed with 
the most salubrious regions of the 
earth. Neither is the Southern, 
scenery to be excelled in. variety, 
beauty and grandeur. 

"Such is that section of the Union 
whose actual conditions, resources,, 
needs and possibilities, you are met 
to study and to discuss. I have said 
to study, because, strange as this 
may seem, the South is still a tierra 
incognita to even some prominent in- 
structors of the youth of the coun- 
try. Why, no less an educator than 
Channing, in his history which is 
used as a text book in many schools 
and colleges, makes the following 
gross misstatements: 

" 'Above New Orleans or Baton 
Rouge it (the Mississippi) Is practi- 
cally unnavigable by seagoing sail- 
ing ships. Moreover, the banks of 
the lower Mississippi are generally- 
low and swampy and offer no induce- 
ment to the settler. It is only at a 
distance of eight hundred miles from 
the sea that they become inviting 
to agriculturists.' 

"These are astounding: statements 
in view, first, of the fact that the 
famous U. S. Cruiser Nashville, In a 
moderately high stage of water, in 
1898, successfully ascended the Mis- 
sissippi as high as St. Louis, which 
is situated some 1,200 miles above 
New Orleans; and, secondly, of ths 
fact that beginning at about twenty 
miles above the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi, the lands along both banks 
of this river are conceded to be 
among the most fertile in the world, 
surpassing in fertility those of the 
famed valley of the Nile. From the 
point stated, these banks are but a 
succession of plantations of sugar 
cane rice, cotton, corn, and of al- 
most every other product of the 
semi-tropical and temperate zones. 
With the exception perhaps of the 
Ganges and the Yellow rivers of In- 
dia and China, the banks of the 
Mississippi have a denser population 
than those of any other river m the 
world. 

"This is but one of the numerous 
fallacious descriptions of the South- 
ern country by which capital, im- 
migration and enterprise, are di- 
verted from this incomparable lana. 
of abundance and promise. 



12 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



"The elements for the South's de- 
velopment into one of the richest and 
mightiest divisions of the earth, 
which are common to other divisions, 
;are self-evident. But, in addition, it 
possesses in its cotton product a re- 
source that, when it shall have at- 
tained its logical development, will 
ensure to the South a commanding 
: position over any other division. It 
was demonstrated during our civil 
war that the cotton of the South was 
practically indispensable to the 
world's commerce and comfort. The 
• blockade of the Southern ports raised 
the price of cotton to more than $1 
in gold per pound. The manufactur- 
ers and buyers of tne Eastern States 
and of Europe have had almost ex- 
clusive command of the price of raw 
cotton and, to reap greater profits 
ifrom the cotton fabrics, they have 
naturally striven to continually re- 
duce the price of the raw cotton. 
Under this influence it came to pass 
'that the cost of production exceeded 
;lhe market price, and it was not un- 
til the competing demand from the 
recently established Southern mills 
arose, that the price of raw cotton 
began to rise and to enable the 
■ Southern planter to resume the cul- 
tivation of the plant, which many 
"had commenced to abandon in part 
«or In whole. These developments 
have furnished object lessons which 
should not be disregarded. It is clear 
that if we would compel the Eastern 
and foreign combinations of buyers 
to pay better prices for the raw cot- 
ton, we must increase the home de- 
mand for it by increasing the num- 
"ber of the home manufactures. For 
their own protection, the Eastern and 
foreign manufacturers must hold up 
the price of the fabrics, since the 
Southern mills, located at the fields 
of production, can make the fabrics 
at less cost and meet any cut that 
their outside competitors might en- 
deavor to make. In this way. both 
the price of raw cotton and of cot- 
ton fabrics, will be kept at profit 
points. It follows that the South's 
income from cotton in the raw or 
"the manufactured forms, will increase 
"in a ratio corresponding with the in- 
crease of cotton factories in the 
South. "With a number of factories 
proportioned to the yield in raw cot- 
tfcon, the South would receive the 



three hundred or more millions that 
the raw cotton brings annually, and 
it would also receive the hundreds 
of millions that come from the cost 
of making the fabrics and from the 
profits arising from these fabrics. 
For the South to get from six to nine 
hundred millions instead of the three 
hundred millions annually that it 
has been getting, ought to be easy 
of accomplishment by the mere in- 
crease of cotton factories. The ef- 
fects of such increases in the South's 
incomes from cotton are too obvious 
to require description or enumera 
tion. Suffice it to say, that the sur- 
plus capital that the South would 
soon amass from King Cotton would 
develope numerous other manufac- 
tures and industries and attract a 
flow of immigration and capital un- 
precedented in the South's annals. 

"It is but too often said that home 
capital is lacking to establish the 
requisite number of cotton factories 
in the South, but if we consider for 
example, the many sugar mills and 
sugar refineries, the rice mills and 
the saw mills, that have been erected 
with home capital in our own State, 
which are far more costly than cot- 
ton factories, this fallacious conten- 
tion ought to be promptly abandoned. 
If we can find money for sugar mills, 
sugar refineries, rice mills, irrigation 
plants and mammoth saw mills, why 
can we not find money to build cot- 
ton factories? 

"Cotton can and should be re- 
enthroned in the South and made to 
wield far greater power than it ever 
had in its palmiest days. We can- 
not labor too persistently for the at- 
tainment of this end. With this view 
it gave me exceeding pleasure, at the 
last meeting of our General Assem- 
bly, to approve a bill, looking to the 
creation throughout the Cotton 
States, of a system of gathering and 
compiling reliable official reports of 
cotton production, which would de- 
stroy the effect of the misleading and 
unreliable reports which have from 
time to time been put forth by irre- 
sponsible self-constitnted statistic- 
ians to influence the markets, always 
to the detriment of the producers. I 
trust that your Convention will take 
action in this matter in furtherance 
of the endorsement which the Con- 
vention at Chattanooga gave to this 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-/, ipoo. JfJT: 



is; 



plan of official reports, so that all 
other States interested may co-oper- 
ate with Louisiana. 

"Cotton cannot be protected by tar- 
iffs, and it possesses by reason of its 
stability, enormous advantages over 
many other American products. In 
either the raw or the manufactured 
state, King Cotton enters as a free 
lance into the markets of the world. 
Hence, manufacturers of cotton fab- 
rics at the fields of production, who 
may also be producers of the raw 
cotton, should easily have the advan- 
tage in any competition that may 
arise in the price of either. Consid- 
ering these incontestable advantages, 
an ideal investment that would defy 
competition and absolutely ensure 
gains, will be for capitalists acting 
singly or in association, to erect in 
the cotton growing regions, compos- 
ite establishments where the cotton 
will be brought in the seed, to be 
ginned in one department, made into 
fabrics in another, and where in an- 
other, the seed will be crushed for 
the oil and for oil cake and meal. 

"The era of five cents cotton gave 
ample warning that the hour for an 
industrial revolution had sounded for 
the South, just as it was sounded and 
heeded in Japan, in 1868, when the 
Western Powers compelled that then 
semi-barbarous country to open its 
ports to universal trade, and with no 
greater reservation or protection 
than a nominal tariff duty of five 
per cent, ad valorem. Count Okuma, 
formerly Prime Minister of Japan, in 
a recent publication, describes the 
means by which Japan entered into 
the movement of successful regenera- 
tion.' It sent its young men abroad 
to be educated in the naval, the mili- 
tary, and the mechanical arts. It 
employed without counting the cost, 
foreign preceptors to erect manufac- 
tures of all kinds, ship building 
yards, and work shops of every char- 
acter, and to teach the arts and sci- 
ences generally. Thirty-two years 
of this policy have brought Japan and 
her forty-five millions of yellow peo- 
ple, to be recognized among the lead- 
ing industrial and military powers 
of the World. The development of 
Japan's commerce and industries is 
partially revealed by its official re- 
ports, showing that in 1868 its ex- 
ports amounted to but 15,553,472 yen, 



and its imports to 10,69^0X1 yeu£ 
whereas, thirty years after, in. 1898*. 
its exports had risen to 165,153,752: 
yen, and its imports to 277,532,15$. 
yen. n 

"Japan thus presents object lessons 
which should induce the South to en- 
ter as far as practicable with unceas- 
ing activity and resoluteness into an* 
analogous industrial revolution, 

"In the North American Review, 
for November, 1900, I.Ir. O. P, Aus- 
tin, Chief of the U. S. Bureau of" 
Statistics, writing upon 'A Century 
of International Commerce,' rightly 
attributes to the swift steam vessel,, 
+ he railway train, the uses of elec- 
tricity, the telegraph and the new- 
mechanical devices, the phenominali 
growth of the world's commerce dur- 
ing the Nineteenth Century, He 
claims that this commerce has in- 
creased more than a thousand per 
cent., while population has increased 
less than one hundred and fifty per. 
cent. 

"Mindful that commerce increases^ 
proportionately with the number of 
miles of rivers and canals opened- 
for navigation, and with the mileage 
of railways, the Russian Empire has. 
opened for navigation no less than 
18,000 miles of rivers and canals, andL» 
it has practically decided to construct 
a waterway of adequate width and 
depth that will enable its war and 1 
commercial fleets to navigate from, 
the Baltic to the Black sea, and vice 
versa. It is likewise pushing to com- 
pletion the Trans-Siberian railway, 
which will open communications 
across thousands of miles of hitherto 
inaccessible territory between Russia 
in Europe and the shores of the 
Pacific ocean. Meanwhile, our £reat 
Republic has opened no more than 
14,000 miles of rivers and canals for 
navigation, and due chiefly to the re- 
proachful object lesson taught hy the 
Oregon's voyage from San Francisco - 
to Cuba, via the Straights of Magel- 
lan, during the late war with Spain, 
it is yet in the throes of a hesitating 
consideration of the project of dig- 
ging the Nicaragua Canal. The ques- 
tion of the improvement of our great 
Western and Southern waterways, 
has scarcely passed the stage attained' 
by the Nicaragua Canal project, while* 
the project of the Intercontinental 



14 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



.Railway, which would open to Ameri- 
can commerce and enterprise an in- 
comparably vaster and richer field 
than will the Czar's Trans-Siberian 
railway, is resting supinely upon the 
favorable report of the preliminary 
survey of the Intercontinental line 
made by a corps of United States en- 
gineers in 1893. As your programme 
indicates that these subjects are to 
be fully discussed, I shall be content 
in referring to them merely to ask: 
Shall our great Republic, with all its 
boasted wealth and progressive spir- 
it, permit the Czar of Russia to out- 
strip it in undertakings of the char- 

: acter adverted. to? 

"The deepening of the channel at 
the mouth of the Mississippi is a 
matter of supreme importance to the 
commerce of the entire Mississippi 
Valley and of the port of New Or- 

r leans. I trust that you will give it 
special attention and that you will 
take the proper steps to urge upon 
Congress the pressing need for its 
immediate action to provide the ade- 
quate means to enable vessels to en- 
ter the Mississippi without hindrance. 
"In furthering the progress of the 
South, the Southern Industrial Asso- 
ciation will further the interests of 
the entire country as well, since the 
greater shall be the value of the 
country's. exports, the greater shall be 
the balance of trade in favor of the 
United States. Let us bear in mind 
that fifty cents wheat and five cents 
cotton will cut very deeply into the 
income of the people of the United 
States and into the general prosper- 
ity of the country. No section of the 
Union can prosper, nor no section of 
the Union suffer, that the effects of 
such prosperity or depression will 
not be felt by the other sections. The 
East, the North and the West, 
should, therefore, gladly assist this 
movement for Southern progress, and 
let us trust that we are not indulg- 
ing in vain hopes when we expect the 
general government to aid us by 
friendly and progressive legislation, 
and for the capital and enterprise of 
other sections to help us in this good 
work. 

"While Cotton must be regarded as 
the South's chief and unrivalled re- 
source, it will be the stronger if its 
^production is held within reasonable 



bounds. Diversification should not 
be discarded because of rises in the 
price of cotton. The sheep ranches 
of Texas and of other portions of 
the South, should strive to produce 
more wool, and manufactures of 
woolens should go hand in hand with 
the cotton factory. The growing 
consumption of sugar suggests the 
enlargement of the sugar cane indus- 
try in Louisiana and in the other Gulf 
States. There is room, too, for the 
expansion of the rice industry, whicn 
has become one of the leading in- 
dustries and resources of Louisiana, 
the Carolinas and Texas. Truck 
farming and stock raising; wood 
working to utilize the valuable woods 
with which the South is endowed so 
abundantly; the revival of the once 
gigantic steamboat trade on the 
Southern and Western rivers; the es- 
tablishment of steamship lines to 
open and maintain commerce and in- 
tercourse with foreign countries, es- 
pecially with the West Indies and 
Latin America; the erection of ship 
building yards; the construction of 
more railways; public improvements 
in our towns and cities; good road- 
ways; better educational facilities; 
industrial schools; and many more 
things that will gO toward making 
the South one of the greatest and 
most prosperous regions of the earth, 
we should labor to promote. 

"The population of Louisiana has 
grown from 1,118,587 in 1890, to 1,- 
381,627 in 1900, showing a gratifying 
increase of 263,040. The industries 
and wealth of the State have in- 
creased in corresponding ratio. Now, 
in concluding, I desire to assure those 
of you who have come from beyond 
the borders of Louisiana, that her 
people not only welcome you on this 
occasion, but they also cordially in- 
vite you and all other progressive 
people from every State and country 
to come amongst them with your own 
and their energy, intelligence and 
capital, and help them to enjoy and 
to multiply the riches of their cotton, 
sugar, cane and rice regions; the 
wealth of their forests, of their fer- 
tile uplands and lowlands, and to 
speed the industrial and commercial 
march of their hamlets and towns, 
and of their grand Crescent City, 
whose slogan is for more public im- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



15 



T>rovements more manufactures, and pleasure to announce as the next 

more trade facilities, and more pro- speaker, his Honor, Mayor Paul Cap- 

gress." (Loud applause.) devielle of Greater New Orleans. (Ap- 

Chairman Story: It is my honor plause.) 




ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

BY HON. PAUL CAPDEVIELLE, 
Mayor of New Orleans, La. 



Mayor Paul Capdevielle spoke as 
follows: 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the 
'Convention: It has been my good 
fortune to be present at and to par- 
ticipate in the proceedings of many 
large assemblages, in the interest and 
good of the people, but I am free to 
say that I never responded with more 
alacrity and warmer feeling than on 
the present occasion. (Applause.) 
And how could it be otherwise, when 
I see before me so many chosen dele- 
gates and distinguished representa- 
tives from so many different States 
•of our Union, assembled here to- 
gether for the purpose of exchanging 
"views in a noble and fraternal way 



to arrive at the best conclusions to 
promote the best interests of our 
great commonwealth? (Applause.) 
The business men of the South real- 
ize that they must be practical as 
well as energetic. You have count- 
less sources of undetermined and un- 
developed wealth which is bound to 
excite the attention of capital and 
bound to invite the money of the 
capitalist as well as the money of the 
wage earner, and before the world 
you gentlemen have assembled here 
to-day for a noble purpose, which 
challenges admiration and must nec- 
essarily succeed. (Applause.) But, 
gentlemen, I had forgotten that I am 
not expected to make a speech, I am 
here to extend you a warm welcome, 



16 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



which I do with intense pleasure; 
but, if you will permit me to digress 
a moment, I will recite a little in- 
cident that occurred recently, and 
which is pertinent. I have but just 
returned from a trip North and East. 
Some say I went for my health, 
others say that I went for recreation, 
but there is one thing sure, it was 
not for business. I received much 
courtesy and consideration from 
many distinguished men, but, gen- 
tlemen, no one realized better than 
myself that these honors were ex- 
tended to the public officer and not 
to the man. On a certain occasion, 
I met two large capitalists, who 
wanted to know what this Southern 
Industrial Convention meant, and 
what its purposes. were. I told them 
that after staying a few days longer 
I intended to be back in time to meet 
you gentlemen, and I did not hesitate 
to explain what were the objects of 
this Convention. Answering further 
questions, I said that the City of New 
Orleans was about to issue $16,000,- 
000 of bonds to complete the drain- 
age system of the city, to build a sys- 
tem of sewerage and to secure pure 
water for our city, and that these im- 
provements would ve followed by 
others such as the embellishment of 
our parks and open spaces. I was 
listened to with a great deal of at- 
tention, by one of these great capi- 
talists, and when I told him that the 
population of New Orleans to-day 
had reached nearly 300,000, and that 
this population had voluntarily taxed 



themselves 2 mills for a period of 
fifty years — "What then, sir,' said he,, 
'these people mean business. Then,, 
sir, your city has a future.' I re- 
plied: 'Sir, the city has always had. 
a future, but she has always had 
more than her share of misfortunes^ 
and has not yet had an opportunity 
to realize it, but she will now create 
the opportunity, the South is now 
moving.' He said: 'That will be due 
to ten-cent cotton.' 'I do not know 
about that,' I replied, 'but I do know 
that the South knows what its duty 
is, and the South is going to do it 
and to prosper.' (Applause.) 

"Gentlemen, I hope you will par- 
don this digression, but I only de- 
sired to show you that the people. of 
this country are now watching you 
and your actions. Now, gentlemen,, 
you have already been welcomed in 
most eloquent terms by his Excel- 
lency the Governor, on the part of 
the State of Louisiana. It is now my 
part to extend to you the warmest 
greetings from our old and grand 
city, which has been always noted 
for her hospitality, and I trust will' 
prove worthy of her reputation. Al- 
low me, as Mayor of the City of New 
Orleans, to bid you welcome to our 
midst, welcome as delegates, welcome- 
as friends, welcome as noble, patri- 
otic and progressive citizens, en- 
listed in the same noble cause, to- 
which I now pledge my hearty co- 
operation and tender you my best 
wishes for its complete success."" 
(Loud and prolonged applause.) 



ROLL CALL OF STATES. 



Chairman Story: The Secretary 
will now call the roll of States. 
Secretary Thompson: "Alabama." 
Chairman Story: Ex-Mayor C. L. 
Lavretta of Mobile, will respond to 
the roll on behalf of the State of 
Alabama. 

Ex-Mayor C. L. Lavretta of Mobile 
responded in the following words: 

"Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of 
the Southern Industrial Convention: 
I cannot conceive way I should have 
been selected in the absence of the 
official representative, the Governor, 
of the State of Alabama, to respond 
to the heartfelt welcome which has 



been extended to us by his Excel- 
lency the Governor of the State of 
Louisiana, and the Mayor of the City 
of New Orleans. I can only attribute 
it to one . reason, and that is that 
when it comes to the true citizenship 
of the proud State of Alabama, she 
never gives her citizens time to pre- 
pare themselves for a response in- 
set terms to such a warm and hospit- 
able welcome. I do not propose to 
make an address at this particular 
time, nor do I intend to speak at 
length of the grand State of Alabama, 
which is a bright jewel in the crown 
of States, possessed of all the quali- 
ties which go towards the building 



Held in Nczv Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



-up of good citizenship, and of princi- 
ples always worthy to be followed. 
I will not speak of the great min- 
eral wealth of that State, of its 
woods, of its iron interests, of its 
coal, and other produces, hut I will 
jsimply say to his Excellency the Gov- 
ernor of the State of Louisiana, to his 
.Honor the Mayor of the City of New 



Orleans, and to you gentlemen, that 
so far as our State is concerned, so 
far as our citizens whom we repre- 
sent are concerned, our best efforts 
will go out towards making these de- 
liberations fruitful in the present, 
and to do all we can to make the 
objects of this Convention a decided 
success." (Applause.) 



RESPONSE OX BEHALF OF AKXAXSAS. 



BY COLONEL JAMES MITCHELL. 



Secretary Thompson: "Arkansas." 

Chairman Story: I now introduce 
"to you Colonel James Mitchell, who 
-will respond for the State of Ar- 
kansas. 

Col. James Mitchell said: 

"Mr. President and Gentlemen: I 
was told about an hour and a half 
:ago that I would be expected to re- 
spond for the State of Arkansas on 
behalf of his Excellency Governor 
D. W. Jones, who is unable to attend 
this Convention. I appreciate the 
honor, and I shall try to say in a 
brief way a few things that Gov. 
Jones would say were he here. I am 
not going to make a long speech; 
whenever I am tempted to do that, I 
think of the splendid tribute that 
Fitz Greene Halleck paid to a speak- 
er: 'There is one great virtue in 
thy speeches, the secret of their mas- 
tery; they are short.' I am not ac- 
customed to addressing assemblages 
of this kind. I may say that I re- 
ceived a rude rebuff in iny younger 
days that prevented my becoming an 
orator and perhaps a statesman. 
When a young man, I had the mis- 
fortune 10 enter politics. I ran for 
the legislature and was elected, but 
a very brief experience satisfied me 
that I was not adapted to a public 
career. There came up two measures 
in the legislature, one for a loan of 
$100,000 to the old Memphis and Lit- 
tle Rock Railroad, the other a bill to 
provide for a road tax of 1-4 of a 
mill. I voted for them. My con- 
stituents told me they were not in 
favor of either of these measures, 
and said 'You will never get back 
to the Arkansas legislature,' to which 
1 answered, 'I don't want to get back,' 
and then I had a consultation with 



my commanding officer at home, and 
she informed me that she did not 
think I was adapted for or would ever 
become a statesman or an orator, and 
that settled it." (Laughter and ap- 
plause.) "Well, gentlemen, I have 
lived to see the Memphis and Little 
Rock Railroad, largely by means of 
that appropriation which the Arkan- 
sas legislature voted, develope, and 
though it was a long time before the 
company paid the money back, I 
lived to see 18 years afterwards that 
$10.0,000 principal and $140,000 inter- 
est wheeled into the State Treasury, 
and I said to myself, 'young man, 
that was a good vote which you 
gave.' I voted for the road tax, I did 
not get it, but I have been working 
for it ever since." (Applause.) "1 
need not speak of the great railroad 
development of our grand State, of 
its soil, of its climate, of our enor- 
mous mineral wealth, as it is not 
necessary to detain you longer with 
a catalogue of the immense resources 
and rapid grov/th of the State of Ar- 
kansas. Had Governor Jones been 
here, he could have told you of all 
these things. 

"Now, as to the objects and pur- 
poses of this Convention. I cannot 
express them better, nor so well as 
to read briefly a few lines written 
by the very efficient secretary of this 
Association, Mr. Thompson, whose 
handiwork is splendidly illustrated 
by a glance 'round this grand hall. 
He says: 'The purpose of this Con- 
vention is to promote the Industrial 
development and upbuilding of the 
South. It is sought; through such a 
policy to induce the South to manu- 
facture her own raw materials, on 
her own soil, and by her own people.' 



18 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



"These, gentlemen of the Conven- 
tion, are most worthy objects. The 
motto on the programme sent out 
for the delegates to this Convention, 
is this: "Business! No Politics; No 
Sectionalism." A better motto could 
not have been adopted. Business! I 
want to get one thought before you, 
and that is, that whatever may be 
the result of this Association, how- 
ever we may speak or resolve, the 
one secret of our success as a sec- 
tion of this great country is our 
own unity and individual efforts. We 
must pave the way in all the great 
enterprises which we will try to 
further, by putting up our own time, 
our own labor and our own money. 



'No sectionalism,' that is a grand? 
thought, a grand purpose. 'The in- 
dustrial development of the Southi 
means the enrichment of the na- 
tion.' Sectionalism has departed in. 
the new and better era of good feel- 
ing that is upon us. Whatever de- 
fects there may be in this Govern- 
ment of ours, whatever errors there 
may be in its administration, the 
fact remains that this is the greatest 
and grandest country of the earth. 
(Applause.) "And this Government 
of ours with all its defects and im- 
perfections is the greatest and grand- 
est system ever devised by the wis- 
dom of mankind." (Applause.) 



RESPONSE ON BEHALF OF GEORGIA. 



BY GEN. JOHN B. GORDON. 



Secretary Thompson: "Georgia." 

Chairman Story: "Ladies and 
Gentlemen: We have with us here 
not only the most representative and 
distinguished citizen of Georgia, but 
I dare say in the whole country. He 
needs no Introduction to any South- 
ern audience. Tlic n,or.tion of hib 
name alone is sufficient to thrill 
every heart, but we love him because 
of his broad Americanism and ele- 
vated patriotism, because his life will 
be the imperishable heritage of all 
Americans. His name is already 
written on the scroll of fame, and it 
gives me pleasure, therefore, to in- 
troduce to you General John B. Gor- 
don of Georgia." (Applause.) 

General John B. Gordon of Georgia, 
said: 

"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of 
this Convention: It is Georgia's mis- 
fortune and yours, that her able and 
eloquent Governor is not here to 
speak in her name on this glorious 
Convention day. It is Georgia's mis- 
fortune, and yours, that the able son 
of that State, the chosen representa- 
tive of the Governor, the Hon. A. H. 
Cox, one of her foremost citizens, is 
not here to speak in her name. By 
a strange concatenation of events, 
you are doomed — I am very sorry for 
you, but you cannot help it now I 
have got the floor on you — you are 
doomed to sit here, and hear the Are 
of random shots as they come from 



a brain poorly loaded, if loaded at 
all. But I want to say that down 
lower in the human frame, in that 
center of human sentiment, lower 
than the brain, there is a fire burn- 
ing that can never be quenched when- 
ever Southern progress and prosper- 
ity is concerned." (Bravo and ap- 
plause.) "I can give you a little 
comfort, as I took some myself, when 
I read what I am expected to do. 
Listen to it: 'The Governor of each 
State in his response, or through his- 
representative, is to place his State 
in line for union of effort in the in- 
dustrial upbuilding of the South.' So- 
tbat just leaves me nothing to do at. 
all, Georgia is already in line. She's; 
been in line ever since the flag which 
she followed on a thousand battle- 
fields went down. She's there, and 
she is going to stay there. 

"Georgia in line — do you ask that? 
Why France might just as well have- 
asked the great Napoleon as his 
eagles were carried from field to field 
and his legions were sweeping over 
Europe, whether Marshal Ney was in 
line! 

"Georgia in line? What would you 
have thought of a Southern man who 
would have asked the great Lee if 
'Stonewall' Jackson was in line in the 
battle around Richmond and Chan- 
cellorsville, or when Hooker's shot 
and shell were tearing through the 
tangle of the Wilderness? Just as 



Held m New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



19 



sure as these great captains were in 
line under their banners, so is Geor- 
gia in line, and she is going to stay- 
in line on this particular programme 
until the light now breaking on her 
horizon shall have met its full ef- 
fulgence in the full orb of magnifi- 
cent prosperity. 

How do I know — how can you know 
that Georgia is in line on this pro- 
gramme? Why, we have got the evi- 
dence. Look at her condition twenty- 
five years ago, when, ernei ging from 
that dire waste of wreckage and of 
ashes, as she sat bathed in tears with 
her noblest and best buried on every 
battlefield of the Southland, wailing 
like Rachel of old, because they were 
not. Every dollar of her credit ob- 
literated, her red old hills washed and 
furrowed, neglected, overgrown with 
briars and weeds. Borrowing, bor- 
rowing from every quarter of the 
compass, wherever she could find 
people credulous enough to trust her. 
Bemoaning the past, yet hopeful of 
the future, looking out upon the wide 
and almost endless waste of ashes, 
from which here and there rose a 
grim, gaunt, naked chimney, show- 
ing where the comforts of home had 
departed. Then, turn from that pic- 
ture and look at her to-day. There 
sits in this Convention from my 
State, one of the foremost financiers 
in all this Southern land. I have 
heard from his lips within the last 
few hours, that instead of looking 
out now for borrowing money, Geor- 
gia and Georgia people have on de- 
posit in her banks enough money, 
not to speak of the unsold cotton m 
her farmers' hands, enough money to 
run the State Government, all its in- 
stitutions of learning, her charitable 
institutions, her factories, her farms, 
without borrowing one single dollar. 
Why, think about the contrast, my 
brethren! It is inspiring enough 
without any words from me or any of 
her sons. 

"Look at her as she came out of 
the great struggle with her railroads 
little else then than two red bands, 
little more than 'two long streaks of 
dust and rust, where the rails once 
had laid. Now, on that same track 
the shining rails are sending back to 
heaven from their bright surface the 
glimmers of the sunlight, while on 
that track are thundering day and 



night trains laden with her products 
carrying them to mingle with the- 
commerce of the world." (Applause.). 
"Look at her water power, the great- 
waterfalls uttered at that time their 
voices invoking the hand of man to 
harness their power to his progress, 
but with no response. Now, the echo 
comes back from her shops and her 
furnaces, of the falling hammer, 
which forges the chains that are har- 
nessing the electricity of her air to 
the swiftly flying wheels of progress- 
The old pineries, beautiful to us who 
lived among them, weird, wild and. 
uninviting to the stranger, those old 
forests only a few years since so 
neglected, when the only charm that 
came from them was that weird 
music, sad and sea-like, but sweeter 
far to Southern ears than the music 
of an Aeolian harp — listen now to the 
echo, of that strange, weird and wild 
music, as there comes the answer 
from the whizzing saw, the whirling 
spindle and the rattling shuttle, the 
one cutting the timber, and the- 
others converting the fleecy staple 
grown where once grew nothing but 
wild forests, into the clothing which 
is necessary for the comfort of all 
the peoples of the earth. Those old 
red hills, how proud it makes a man: 
who loves his state and his country 
to see these fields furrowed by the 
plow, guided by intelligent and 
thoughtful husbandry, until every 
drop of God's rain filled with fertil- 
ity is caught and held and trans- 
muted by this process into wealth 
untold. 

"Oh, yes; my friends, we are there, 
we are in line, and thanks be to God, 
all the South is in line; and we 
mean to get there, too. We are go- 
ing — going, where? To the front! 

"Now, they say that we must not 
have any politics. We are not going 
to have any. Like my brother who 
just took his seat, I was in politics 
once, but, like him, I have reformed. 
But, I am going to stand here and 
take the liberty of saying one or two- 
things, whether it be politics or not: 
In my heart, throbbing in this brain, 
and I may just as well say you may 
take them or not, but these are my 
deep convictions : 

"The South, once the weeping 
Niobe of Nations, sat after the war- 
wrapped in her veil of tears, and the- 



20 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



ipathos of her isolation and grief was 
overwhelming. But she is not there 
•any longer; like the great Grecian 
mother Cornelia, she now stands 
ready to point to her greatest liv- 
ing sons., the Gracchi, that ever 
walked on terra-firma, who, like 
those assembled here this morning, 
will see that this country shall take 
a foremost place in material pros- 
perity, and be supreme in every de- 
partment of industrial development 
among the nations of the earth. Why 
should we be behind any other por- 
tion of this earth or of this Ameri- 
can country? Were you ever behind 
in anything else? Did America ever 
produce any statesmen whose names 
are written higher than those which 
were written as Southern men? Were 
any soldiers ever better than ours? 
How comes it that in every foreign 
war, without a single exception, I 
expect I am talking too much, but 
I have got to say it (laughter and ap- 
plause) how comes it, that in every 
foreign war, save in the last, and it 
would like to have been so in this 
one for Fitzhugh Lee and old Joe 
Wheeler came mighty near getting 
there — but, in every other foreign 
war this section has furnished the 
leaders who have borne the glorious 
stars and stripes, this immortal ban- 
ner (pointing to the flag), to vic- 
tory. (Applause.) Where is that 
you have been behind? Point to the 
place! We hear so much of being 
rich 'befoh the wah.' You did not 
care about being rich before the war. 
I remember very well that if you 
took a railroad man and showed him 
a hillside, and told him that behind 
it were iron and coal, and on the 
other side was a large cotton field, 
he would build his railroad through 
the cotton field and let the coal mine 
go. Now the South has called from 
their long sleep those sons of Her- 
cules, iron and coal, and hitches 
them to the car of her progress. And 
her marble quarries have yielded up 
the finest of stone, even the proud 
capitol of this great nation itself is 
made more beautiful by tributes from 
Southern quarries. Forward, for- 
ward, my countrymen! 

"But, I had forgotten what I was 
going to say. There are so many 
ways of saying it that a fellow gets 
lost but he cannot miss it which ever 



road he takes, for they all lead to 
the same thing. But I am going to 
say now the political thing I was 
going to say before. The Southern 
people want no more whatever they 
wanted in the past, any confined, 
contracted, public policy. We want 
the great canal that shall link to- 
gether the eastern and the western 
oceans. We want the open door and 
a great big one at that. For we are 
coming, coming not as the brave 
Yankee soldiers once said. 'Father 
Abraham hundreds of thousands 
strong,' but we are coming with our 
millions! 

"Oh, ye brown peoples of the 
Orient, we are coming with our fleecy 
staple converted by our own machin- 
ery, our own handicraft, into cloth- 
ing for all the peoples of the earth. 
(Applause.) Open wide your doors 
and we promise you — I stand here on 
this platform in the presence of these 
Southern men to-day to predict that 
you will be glad of it some day. Oh, 
ye Chinese, pull the walls ye have 
built around you down, and we prom* 
ise you we will make you happy! I 
don't know what other people think, 
I am not saying this for the Govern- 
or of Georgia nor for anybody else, 
but for myself: Whatever may be 
deemed wise policy in regard to our 
newly acquired possessions, I stand 
here to-day to predict that the day is 
soon coming, is not far distant, when 
from Porto Rico and Cuba and from 
the far off islands of the Pacific, 
there shall come from the throats of 
the redeemed millions, gladsome ho- 
sannas, praising God for the presence 
of the American flag (loud applause), 
and for the hope which it shall brin^ 
of American freedom. (Applause.) 
Let us move onward, my country- 
men, let us turn our hands to every 
handicraft which will convert our 
great staple into dollars, not into the 
v-^lue of S40 or $50 a bale, but into 
$400 and $509 worth a bale. We have 
already gone from the highest notch 
reached preceding the war of 4,000,- 
000 of cotton bales to about 11,000.- 
000. S-ippose this had all been con- 
verted into fabrics here in the South, 
and had gone through the great canal 
pri ( \ through the open door into 
China, and had been distributed to 
the millions of the Orient, what 
would have been the condition of 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



21 



these people to-day? Every bale of 
cotton raised on Southern soil, ought 
to be spun and woven on Southern 
soil. ( .pplause.) If you spin and 
weav one-half of it, you won't be 
bothered much more by five-cent cot- 
ton; no, sir, you will have a balance 
wheel that will regulate the price, 
and especially when you get the open 
door, there will be no end to the 
demand for your product. 

"Go on my countrymen! On my 
way from Atlanta to Augusta some 
few days since — and I have not been 
over the road for some time — I saw 
a brick building going up here, and 
a foundation being laid there, the 
machinery going into new buildings, 
and I said to a gentleman sitting 
near, 'What does all this mean?' 
'Oh,' replied he, 'we are erecting cot- 
ton plants and factories.' 'Where did 
you get rhe money?' 'Out of our 
own pockets; every dollar subscribed 
by men living in the vicinity.' Don't 
you know that that means prosper- 
ity? Bless my soul! If Arkansas 
and Texas and these other great cot- 
ton States, Louisiana- among them 
and Mississippi, would prosper, they 
will not wait for Georgia to get into 
line, but get into line with Georgia, 
then we will be the richest people on 
the earth, do doubt about it. 

'God Almighty reigns, and he is 
working in his mysterious way, his 
wonders to perform in this fair 
Southland. But you felt that when 
slavery went, that it was the death 
knell possibly of Southern prosper- 
ity, and God knoT\s that it was an 
awful blow, a staggering blow. The 
freedom of the black man was the 
temporary impoverishment of the 
white race; but God was at work; 
it is coming, coming all right, and 
when vour industries shall line your 



railroads, and when your very air 
shall revel and thrill and tremble^ 
as it will in a few years hence, with. 
the music of your progress, then will- 
come, my countrymen, the solution 
of the great problem of the races. It 
is just before you, and I bid you,, 
onward, onward, onward! I can see- 
in the distance great benefits to us. 
from the opening up and expansion 
of commerce, but we are not going 
to be content to receive the benefit 
without giving back two-fold or ten- 
fold for all the good that comes to. 
us. We have got something to' give, 
too, we have got this glorious staple 
of ours, the best that grows on the 
earth, for the clothing of the peo- 
ple, but we have got better than that, 
we have freedom and liberty, the: 
best government — as my friend has 
said — the best government that the 
world ever saw. We have got a civi- 
lization, and I want to see that old- 
time Southern civilization perpetu- 
ated until the last trump shall sound 
in the heavens. That civilization; 
which produced George Washington, 
Patrick Henry, old Zach Taylor, and 
all the mighty heroes of this land, 
who sprang up and grew in our 
midst, I want to see that civilization 
live and thrive under which grew 
the knightliest manhood of this earth 
and the most glorious womanhood 
that ever dwelt anywhere. Let us 
send it to beautify and ennoble and 
uplift humanity throughout the- 
earth, let us carry our material prog- 
ress to them, but let us hold above 
that the banner of free government, 
the banner of law and order, and the 
banner above it all, oh, my coun- 
trymen, let us float the pure, spotless^ 
white banner of the Prince of Peace."" 
(Loud applause.) 



22 Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 

RESPONSE OX BEHALF OF FLORIDA. 

BY HON. JOHN P. COFFIN. 

Secretary Thompson: "Florida." in introducing to you Hon. John P. 

Coffin of Lake Butler, Florida, who 
Chairman Story; I take pleasure will respond for the Peninsular State. 




HON. JOHN P. COFFIN, VICE-PRESIDENT SOUTHERN INDUSTRIAL 

ASSOCIATION. 



Hon. John P. Coffin said: 

"Mr. Chairman and Ladies and 
Gentlemen of the Convention: It is 
.unfortunate for me that a transposi- 



tion of States in the roll call should 
have placed me after the distin- 
guished speaker who has just en- 
chanted you with his words, and 



Held in r New Orleans,- December 4-7, 1900. 



2$ 



whom you love for his personality 
and for his distinguished services to 
the South. Gentlemen, I feel hon- 
ored in being appointed by Governor 
Bloxham of Florida to respond for 
that State to your very cordial wel- 
come. I represent a State of agri- 
culture, horticulture, lumber, naval 
stores, phosphates, winter tourists 
and grit I may also mention that 
Florida has many products which are 
not represented in any way on this 
platform, notably phosphate, of 
which Florida exports 500,000 tons 
annually, besides an equal amount 
used at home. Kaolin, Fullers earth 
and hydraulic cement are also found 
in Florida in large quantities and are 
exported. 

"Florida is a State which has never 
been crushed by adversities, but has 
always risen superior to all trials 
and discouragements and plucked 
success out of the very besom of de- 
struction, and is now beginning again 
to revel in prosperity, which has. 
grown out of the ashes of disappoint- 
ment. What we want is people to 
till our soil and willing hands to 
pluck oar ripe and juicy fruit, and 
these we are getting from the best 
blood of the country, and we can fur- 
nish the settler's table with anything 
he may desire in grain or vegeta- 
ble, fish, flesh or fowl, for what won't 
grow in Florida you need not look 
for elsewhere. I feel that here I am 
among friends, for Louisiana is but 
a sister to our State and New Or- 
leans a sister to our cities. Born in 
the same aeon of time; bathed by 
the waters of the same gulf, warmed 
by the sweeping current of the same 
gulf stream, which seems loth to 
leave our beautiful shores without 
touching every point, we would in- 
deed be barbarians if we recognized 
not our common birth and our com- 
mon interests, and if we worked not 
side by side in promoting our mutual 
welfare. This Convention, however, , 
is more than a union of two States, 
it is a family reunion of the South- 
ern branch of the strongest family 
in the world — the United States of 
America — to which reunion our 
Northern brethren have been bidden 
for the benefit of both. Not alone 
does this Convention work for the 
best interest of the South, but the 
interests of the whole country are 



in the balances and will be weighed,, 
I hope, with generous measure. Not. 
alone is our country interested, but. 
in the recommendations which have 
been made in the past in this Con- 
vention and those which will be con- 
sidered and acted upon in the pres- 
ent session and in the future I hope 
will create such an influence that it 
will take unto itself, wings and cross, 
the Atlantic towards the East and 
sail across the Pacific, via the Nicar- 
agua Canal, towards the West and 
find lodgment in the entire habitable 
world, and change for the better the 
condition of all, especially our Island 
possessions so recently obtained. I 
am proud of this Convention, for 
though not one of its parents, I am. 
one of its first sponsors and mine 
is the first name to appear upon the; 
list of its registered delegates at its 
first session, and also at its second 
meeting in Chattanooga. I came to 
New Orleans with full faith that this - 
session will surpass all that has ever 
been done, or even attempted in the 
past, and that this will be the session 
which shall open wide the door of 
usefulness to our organization, and 
that Florida shall, with all her sis- 
ters, reap the golden harvest of suc- 
cess, which will surely crown our 
sowing if we but plow and sow with. 
a unity of purpose and a oneness 
of spirit, casting all weeds of dis- 
cord aside and sending our thought 
force in the same channels and with, 
the same high objects in view. It 
is the province of this Convention, 
as I conceive it, not only to advance- 
the industrial interests of the South 
in a financial way, but to bind the- 
South in closer bond of business un- 
ion with the North, and not only with 
the North, but pushing uside all 
.boundanes, reacn around the world. 
with cur unaided arms, for iv is + ime 
for the South 1.0 lay aside h-^ s wad- 
ling clrthes and assume the respons:- 
bilities of older garments. Not only 
this, but I believe that the recom- 
mendations of this convention should 
be such that our influence shall tend 
to the uplifting of the moral stand- 
ard of our people and the higher ed- 
ucation of the masses, both in the- 
ordinary branches of school work 
and the training of the physical beings 
in technical work for industrial pur- 



•24 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



suits. I believe that we should, now 
and in the future, do as we have done 
in the past and recommend such leg- 
islation as may seem wise and pru- 
dent and these recommendations can- 
not go unnoticed when emanating 
from a body composed of such repre- 
sentative men, as the delegates to 
this Convention. Let us not hesi- 
tate to apply the knife where neces- 
.sary, but let us remember that it is 
better to heal than to dismember, 
where healing can be done wihout 
dismemberment, but let us first look 
at whatever question we may discuss 
from a standpoint of strict and im- 
partial justice, justice between man 
and man and the best good of all 
concerned, then indeed we will be- 
come a power and will wield an in- 
fluence which shall be felt over the 
South, over the whole country, over 
the world, Vith an ever widening 
circle of blessing. Then the South- 
ern Industrial Convention will have 
accomplished a mission which will 
ever endear it to the hearts of those 
who share in the benefits it has coun- 
seled and fostered and Florida will 
have her part in the glorious era of 
prosperity which will have dawned 
upon the entire South. (Applause.) 
"There is one thing more that I wish 



to say. There is in South Africa a 
people which has been battling for 
home and country. The Northern 
papers, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, 
and others a few months ago con- 
tained invitations to the Boers to 
come and settle in Kansas, Missouri 
and elsewhere, setting forth the ad- 
vantages of these States. Some of the 
Northwestern railroads published to 
the world the fact that if any of the 
Boers desired to come to this country 
they would provide them free homes. 
I understand that recently 600 fam- 
ilies have asked through our consul 
whether this offer still holds good, 
and an answer in the affirmative has 
been returned. Now, what I want 
.to say is, tnat the South is the proper 
home for the Boer, and more suited 
to them than the blizzard driven 
plains of the Northwest, and I stand- 
ing here and speaking for the State 
of Florida and for the people of Flor- 
ida, would say that if these Boers 
should come to America, Florida will 
give them homes free of all expense, 
to them, and not only homes, but the 
right to 'life, liberty and the pur- 
suit of happiness,' and the right to 
worship God afte- the dictates of 
their own conscience." (Great Ap- 
plause.) 



RESPONSE ON BEHALF OF MISSISSIPPI. 

BY GOV. A. H. LONGINO. 



Secretary Thompson: Mississippi. 

Chairman Story: Governor A. H. 
Longino of the State of Mississippi 
will respond in person for his state. 
(Applause.) 

Gove. A. H. Longino: "My friends, 
do not get alarmed at this paper 
which I hold. Like two of the gen- 
tlemen who spoke this morning I too 
was once in politics. I learned an 
important lesson therein which has 
heen a benefaction to all the audi- 
ences which I have since been called 
upon to address. On one occasion 
when it was my turn to speak first 
I was followed by another speaker 
who related this anecdote. He said 
that I reminded him when I got up 
to speak of a man that got up late 
at night with an intense thirst. 
Looking atound the room he found a 
dirty Unused glass in which his wife 



had dropped a bail of yaru, and got 
the end of it in his teeth. He called 
out 'Mary, Mary; come here quick, 
upon my soul I believe that I am be- 
coming unwound.' (Laughter.) When 
I came here I felt that I had my little 
ball of yarn to unwind. When 1 
heard that I was to speak to-day I 
took the programme and took in its 
scope and the objects of this Con- 
vention, and I felt that I was like 
the fellow who when he went to 
speak 'planted himself on the broad 
circumference of universality and 
took a crack at creation.' So last 
night when I went home and read the 
outlines of my speech to my wife 
she sat silent. Finally I asked her 
for her opinion, to which she naively 
replied. 'Is there no chance of your 
missing the train?" (Laughter.) 
"Gentlemen, when listening to the 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-y, ipoo. 



25 



eloquent and matchless speaker this 
morning from Georgia, I felt indeed 
that it would but De fit on this oc- 
casion if I should not attempt, to 
speak, but while he was speaking 1 
could not but call to mind the citi- 
zen soldier of the nast and the pres- 
ent. I remember that the prowess of 
the revolutionary parties excelled all 
that the oldest countries could boast 



in their palmiest days when their 
power was the wonder and admira- 
tion of the world. I remembered that. 
Napoleon who triumphed over Rus- 
sia, Austria, Italy and Spain, never 
broke, an English iine, and then I 
thought of how the English troops 
that had broken the troops of Na- 
poleon in the Peninsular War, who> 
triumphed over his army at Water- 




GCVERNCR A. H. LONGINO OF MISSISSIPPI. 



lco, tint there troops undefeated else- 
where, were put to route in two wars 
by the genius of the American sol- 
dier. I remembered the battle of 
New Orleans on the plains of Chal- 
mette when the veterans of Welling- 
ton were vanquished, by the South- 
ern soldiers. We have listened this 
morning to a fit representative of 



that Southern chivalry, in the person 
of that Southern .soldier, citizen and 
statesman, Gen. John B. Gordon, of 
Georgia;. (Applause.) ... 

"My friends, being : galled upon to- 
day to respond foe, a State, which in 
common with otjhe.r.. States here rep- 
resented in this association expects- 
to be largely benefitted by the results- 



26 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



of this convention, it will not be im- 
proper for me to direct my remarks 
briefly to some matters of public 
concern regarding that State. 

I may say in this connection that 
as a Mississippian I am proud of 
many of the facts and features that 
help to make her record of Statehood. 

Nature has been well nigh prodigal 
in its gifts to her of a virgin fertile 
soil adapted to the production of al- 
most everything known to any zone, 
with which to feed and clothe man- 
kind; and for the information of any 
who may desire to make a business 
verification of the character and pro- 
ducts of Mississippi's soil I bid them 
go to the great Yazoo-Mississippi 
delta, whose richness of soil is un- 
excelled any where perhaps in the 
world, ana whose forest abounds in 
all manner of hard wood, and with 
cotton wood, cypress, persimmon, red 
gum and many others. 

Crossing from there east is to be 
found as magnificent stretch of for- 
est, valley and plain as can be found 
anywhere until is reached the broad 
prairies of northeast Mississippi, 
which rival in beauty, fertility and 
scenery the famous prairies of our 
great West; traveling thence south, 
covering more than half the State, 
to the beautiful gulf coast can be 
seen the largest unculled yellow pine 
forestries, now perhaps left in the 
United States, and a soil which re- 
sponds readily and profitably to fer- 
tilization, and a climate comparable 
to sunny Italy. 

I am proud also of the record the 
State has made in the education of 
Tier sons and daughters. 

Appreciating the fact that the suc- 
cess of a republic depends upon, and 
is measured largely by, the enlight- 
enment and intelligence of its citi- 
zens, Mississippi now maintains in 
whole or in part by donations from 
her treasury a State university, an 
agricultural and mechanical college 
for whites, and another for the ne- 
groes, an industrial college for white 
girls, a State normal school for ne- 
groes, and ample free schools for all 
without reference to color, thus giv- 
ing collegiate, industrial and common 
school education free to hundreds of 
her boys and girls yearly. 

I am proud also to say that I speak 
"here to-day for a State whose bonded 



payable indebtedness does not ex- 
ceed in round numbers one million 
dollars, and though its last legisla- 
ture made liberal appropriations ex- 
ceeding those of former years, giving 
to her 

Colleges $ 272,534.00 

Hospitals and other char- 
itable institutions. . 289,918.00 
Disabled poor and con- 
federate verteans . . 150,000.00 
Public free schools. . .. 1,000,000.00 
Other worthy objects, . 397,976.00 

Making the handsome 

yearly total of. . ..$2,110,428.00 

Exclusive of the one million dol- 
lars appropriated for a new State 
house.' 

I am glad, however, to say that 
the assessment rolls for 1900 show 
an increase in property valuation 
over last assessment of nearly 
twenty-eight millions, and yet witti 
the increased appropriations afore- 
said and a reduction of the tax levy 
for the year the State has ample 
means with which to meet all ex- 
penditures, and it is confidently be- 
lieved that it will receive from the 
ordinary sources of revenue ample 
funds, not only for defraying cur- 
rent expenses of the government, but 
for the erection of our new million 
dollars State house as well, without 
sale of the bonds authorized by the 
building act. 

As a Mississippian I am proud of 
her citizenship, and may add that 
while she can claim but few million- 
aires, and no large cities, she has 
what is better and more important 
to the happiness and well rounded 
successes of any community, namely, 
an earnest, intelligent self sustaining 
white yeomanry, by whom in the 
main honesty and virtuous manhood 
i< honored and upheld, while treach- 
ery, tyranny and dishonesty in all 
their forms are eschewed and con- 
demned by public opinion. 

While doting, however, upon the 
rectitude of her citizenship, -the stat- 
us of her social and governmental 
affairs, and while true, perhaps, that 
no other State possesses a territory 
richer in resources, more varied in 
products, more magnificent in soil 
and climate or better adapted to the 
diversification of all manner of en- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-/, 1900. 



27 



"terprises calculated to give to the 
section a many siaed and powerful 
development, yet the splendid advan- 
tages common alike to several of 
the Southern States have not here- 
tofore been properly appreciated and 
utilized by the application thereto 
-of labor and capital. 

We are, therefore, very far in the 
rear of the procession of the States 
in the matter of industrial develop- 
ment and progress. 

But we come now to that point 
which marks the dividing line be- 
tween the expiring century and the 
new one, which new era already be- 
gins to look more alluring in its 
hopes and its possibilities than the 
old. 

Let this Convention, by the wis- 
dom of its proceedings write it down 
in history that the South with this 
Convention begins to profit by the 
errors of the past, and that the States 
like Mississippi which have hereto- 
fore been tne laggards in industrial 
and material development shall soon 
take their proper places along by the 
side of their sister States of Georgia 
and the Carolinas in the manufacture 
of cotton and other products pecu- 



liar to our soil and climate, and with 
Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas, Il- 
linois and Missouri in the matter of 
grazing and stock raising. 

To that end there should be given 
liberal encouragement to the impor- 
tation and investment of capital, by 
offering fair and just inducements 
thereto, andtby protecting by law the 
property of corporations with the 
same sacredness as that of individ- 
uals whether of high or low degree. 

Progress and prosperity do not, 
cannot exist where a proper regard 
is not shown for the equal rights of 
both labor and capital, and respected 
alike by the people; the one is not 
likely to hunt a home, nor the other 
to seek investment where life and 
property, are not sacredly protected 
by the courts and the law. 

If the South desires to enter a 
new era of life ana development let 
it stand as it has never done be- 
fore for the enforcement of the law, 
the supremacy of virtuous, intelli- 
gent manhood and the suppression of 
hoodlumism. 

It can then look to the future be- 
lieving in the times to come and 
not be disappointed. (Applause.) 



RESPONSE ON BEHALF OF MISSOURI. 



BY TOM L. CANNON. 



Secretary Thompson: Missouri. 

Chairman Story: Mr. Tom L. 
Cannon of St. Louis will respond for 
the State of Missouri. 

Mr. Tom L. Cannon spoke as fol- 
lows: 

"Mr. Chariman and Gentlemen: I 
did not know that I was to be called 
upon this morning to respond for 
the State of Missouri. I cannot say 
that I am here to speak for the Gov- 
ernor of Missouri. I do not know 
what the Governor would say if he 
was here, but I do know what the 
great vast manufacturing and com- 
mercial interests of that State would 
say, and on behalf of these interests 
I am here to respond for the State 
of Missouri. It is now nearly fif- 
teen years since my active work in 
the cause of Southern development 
began. From the State of Kentucky 
I went to the State of Alabama where 



I saw more clearly than ever the pos- 
sibilities for Southern development. I 
left Alabama when it went down in 
wreck and ruin temporarily, and re- 
moved to the State of Missouri. As 
a result of my experience I felt, and 
still feel that the great future of in- 
dustrial development must have its 
foundation laid in the South. (Ap- 
plause.) 

"I will not make you a long speech 
nor read you a paper. I believe that 
the State of Missouri is in line in 
Southern development, having grown 
to be fifth in the Union in respect 
of its commerce, wealth and varied 
mineral resources, and as it pro- 
duces more manufactured products 
than any other city in the union, I 
think that we know something about 
getting into line. Twenty years ago 
a great railroad magnate refused to 
sign a contract, not granting to St. 
Louis the same rates of freight in 



28 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



free line territory that was granted 
to other cities competing for that 
trade. There was no disposition in 
this t» do injustice to the City cf 
St. Louis and the State of Missouri. 
It was fair, it was just, it was rea- 
sonable, because at that time that 
section was agricultural and not 
manufacturing. To-day that con- 
tract stands, and struggle as we may 
we have not been able to tie closely 
to this section, that section, yet the 
proof is there what we have grown 
to be, and I clearly make this state- 
ment, that more goods are manufac- 
tured within the corporate limits of 
the City of St. Louis than in any 
other city, unless perhaps New York 
combined with Brooklyn. 

"I believe we meet in this conven- 
tion with the resolve to do certain 
things for the development of the 
South. I want to see the hog pens 
of the South brought to the South, 
the corn bins brought to the South, 
the Southern farmer raise the food 
that he eats and become a lender 
instead of a borrower. 

" I do not believe in sleeuing in the 
South under sheets manufactured in 
the North, but I believe in manufac- 
turing the goods of the South in the 
mills of the South. (Anplause.) 

"As I understand it what this Con- 



vention has assembled for is to put 
into practical effect these objects, 
and I concur with what has been said 
here by others in this respect. I 
want to see the Nicaragua canal 
built. (Applause.) I want to see a 
deep water way from the Gulf of 
Mexico to the Great Lakes and Chi- 
cago, so that the largest vessels can 
go through and return laden with the: 
commerce of that section. The riches, 
the most productive section on God's 
green earth is the Mississippi valley. 
You gentlemen here, have allowed 
your commerce to be lifted over the- 
mountains to New York. You have 
lost all this business because you. 
have neglected your opportunities. 
Only a few years ago Mr. Stuyvesant 
Fish, president of the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad, published a valuable 
pamphlet on this subject, which if 
you would read and act upon its sug- 
gestions would enable you to regain 
that commerce. (Applause.) 

"One thought more and I will close- 
Whatever this Convention decides 
upon doing in behalf of Southern de- 
velopment, I am here to pledge you. 
the honest, earnest, hearty support 
of the City of St. Louis, with her 
full ratio of men to do the work, 
and money to pay the expenses." Ap- 
plause.) 



RESPONSE ON BEHALF OE TENNESSEE. 

BY COL. J. B. KILLIBREW. 



Secretary Thompson: Tennessee. 

Chairman Story: Col. J. B. 
Killibrew, of Nashville. Tenn., will 
respond for the Stnte of Tennessee. 

Col. J. B. Killibrew said: 

"l'r. Presic'ent, and Gentlemen of 
the Indus trifl Convention.: Im re- 
sponding to the call of Tennessee I 
must express my regret that Gov- 
ernor McMillan is not present and 
that he was unable:, on account of 
pressing official duties, to attend this 
Convention. I am before you at 
his request. 

"From both a historic or a material 
point of view Tennessee must be re- 
garded as oro Of the fairest daugh- 
ters of our -Southland. From 1780. 
wnen he- brave p'oneers went for- 
•^-orrl pt>tI nolv'ev°rl a v'^to-v at 
King's Mountain, that practically in- 



sured the surrender of Cornyvallis at 
Yorktown, and the independence of 
our country, to the battle of New 
Orleans her name was always to the 
forefront. The battle of New Or- 
leans, fought under the Generalship 
of Tennessee's greatest soldier and 
civilian, was the most complete vic- 
tory of any age either ancient or 
modern. As long as human tongue 
shall utter human speech, New Or- 
leans, Gen. Jackson and his brave 
Tennesseeans will share the same- 
illustrious and imperishable fame. 

"The whole world knows and appre- 
ciates with what peerless valor Ten- 
nesseeans fought at the battlp ^ 
San Jacinto and so helped to win the 
independence of Texas. The w'^'- 
world knows how these same Ten- 
nesseeans won deathless renown on 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 



29 



the plains of Mexico winning victor- 
ies that added over 900,000 square 
.miles to our National domain. Not 
to mention the dreadful battles of the 
Civil War or those in the recent war 
with Spain, Tennessee has always 
performed her whole duty. When- 
ever and wherever the tocsin of war 
-has sounded, there Tennesseeans 
have gathered until the State has 
won and justly merits the name of 
the Volunteer State of the Union. 

"You will pardon me for thus ad- 
vertising to the glorious achieve- 
ments of_ Tennesseeans in the past. 
We are proud of them and glory in 
them as our richest inheritance. 

"In the industrial world, Tennessee 
has also made its power felt. Richly 
endowed with almost every resource 
in soils, timber, crops, minerals, cli- 
mate, water powers, navigable rivers, 
all indeed that go to make the 
strength of States and the greatness 
of nations, she may well challenge a 
comparison in these matters with 
any other State in the American 
Union. 

"Stand with me for a moment upon 
the crest of the lofty mountain 
chain that lies on her eastern border; 
gaze down upon the valley of East 
Tennessee, one of the most pictur- 
esque and beautiful in the world cov- 
ered with cities, towns, villages and 
farms and sweet farm houses em- 
bowered in orchards and vineyards 
and surrounded by stock bearing 
meadows and verdant pastures, all 
forming the center of a great indus- 
trial and intellectual activity. There 
is scarcely such another scene in 
America. This valley banded with 
iron ores on the east and west, and 
floored with marble of transcendant 
beauty and dotted with zinc and 
lead and copper mines and threaded 
by brooks and streams and noble 
rivers, presents the raw material t.b ot 
can give profitable employment to 
ten times the population it has at 
present. The people of this valley 
are noted for their high intelligence, 
their lofty enterprise and their ar- 
dent patriotism. Ascend for a thous- 
and feet the battlemented walls that 
bound the western side of this val- 
ley and you will stand uoon the 
Cumberland table land, filled with- 
some of the richest coal seams in 
the world. These summits of tran- 



quil glory, park like in their appear- 
ance, are charged with freshness and 
vitality, which produce such an ex- 
huberance of spirits that life itself 
becomes a joyous existence. 

"Look down from the western bor- 
der of this matchless table land upon 
the Highlands that surround the 
Great Central Basin. These High- 
lands rich in the fertility of their 
soils, in the majesty and extent of 
their forests, and the quantity of iron 
ores, are likewise famous for the 
versatility of crops and for the mag- 
nificent water powers that plunge in 
rapid torrents from elevations 1000 
feet above the sea into the Great Cen- 
tral Basin. 

"This Central Basin in which Nash- 
ville is situated is a region of charm- 
ing pastoral beauty where nature as- 
sumes her most enchanting aspect, 
where luxuriant meadows confine 
numberless streams that flash in 
transparent and perennial beauty all 
over it. It is a region where the most 
highly improved domestic animals 
find a congenial home. Here reside 
also many of the intellectual men 
and women that have given to Ten- 
nessee her most substantial and en- 
during glory. 

Pass on westward until you again 
reach the Highlands and you will 
stand upon the Great Iron Belt that 
covers 4000 square miles balancing 
an equal area of coal on the east. 
Cross the Tennessee river into West 
Tennessee and you will enter a re- 
gion where all the bread grains, all 
the textile fabrics, all the fruits and 
vegetables suited to the latitude are 
grown to perfection. 

Tennessee has every variety of iron 
ore; the magnetic, the compact hem- 
atite, the specular, .the red fossil 
ores, the brown ores and the car- 
bonates. The phosphates of Tennes- 
see are not surpassed in extent, value 
or usefulness by any other phos- 
phates in the world. Discovered in 
the latter part of 1894 over 500,000 ■ 
tons are now mined and marketed 
in every part of Europe and America. 
Tennessee has 15,000 acres of wood- 
land which embrace 137 varieties of 
timber trees. With her most genial 
climate she has every soil that may 
be found in the United States. WHb 
almost every variety of building 
stone, from the most beautiful vari- 



30 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



gated marble to the most solid gran- 
ite; she has gold, manganese, hy- 
draulic rock, roofing slate, petroleum, 
coal, iron, copper and zinc, alto- 
gether fifty-seven different minerals 
that exist in workable quantities. 

Indeed, gentlemen of the Conven- 
tion, Tennessee has all the agencies, 
resources and forces of an august 
civilization. She now makes more 
iron than Great Britain did in 1818. 
more than the United States made in 
1842, and half as much as was made 
in 1881. She makes eight times as 
much iron as she did in 1872 and 
mines seven times as much coal. 

Tennessee^ though fourth in popu- 
lation among the Southern States, 
stands first in the number of insti- 
tutions of learning; first in scolastic 
attendance; first in the production of 
hardwood lumber; first in its out- 
put of rough marble and first in the 
number and capacity of its flouring 
mills. She stands second in the pro- 
duction of iron ores and pig iron and 
in the value of her live stock; sec- 
ond in the number of woolen factor- 
ies; second in the production of the 
cereals and second in the amount of 
phosphates mined. She has the larg- 
est inland markets for cotton and 
heavy shipping tobacco in the world. 
She has 1200 miles of navigable 
rivers, surpassing in this respect all 
the other Southern States and she 
has fewer mortgages on her farms 
than any other State in the Union, 
in proportion to the number of 
farms. 

The State of Tennessee, indeed, is 
singularly favored in almost every- 
thing that contributes to the excel- 
lence, uplifting and welfare of the 
human race. Let us recapitulate. 
Possessed of the most genial medium 
climate in the world that makes ex- 
istence, itself enjoyment and strips 
poverty of half its' ills; with a sur- 
face configuration so varied as to 
give to her the climatic advantages 
of all the states by reason of different 
elevations; with resources so diver- 
sified that she may be said to enjoy 
every natural gift and make nearlv 
every human vocation possible; with 
soils of an abounding fertility de- 
rived from almost every geological 
formation, and having every adapta- 



bility; with timber of every variety" 
found in the United States and Can- 
ada; with building stones so beau- 
tiful and so valuable that a demand 
for them for ornamentation comes 
from every State in the Union and. 
from almost every country in Eu- 
rope; with more field crops than are 
grown in any other locality in the 
whole wide world, and more garden 
vegetables and fruits than were ever 
grown elsewhere within the same 
limits; with an abundant rainfall, 
that assures the greatest certainty in 
the yield of all the numerous crops 
planted; with springs or, brooks, or 
creeks or rivers flowing through or 
passing by almost every country 
homestead in the State, watering and: 
freshening and vitalizing the land; 
with healthfulness so great that in- 
valids are tempted to come within 
its borders from both North and 
South, making it a health resort for 
the people of the North during the 
winter and for the people of the 
South during the summer; a land 
whose soils, topography, productions 
and the amount of sunshine and hu- 
midity are so beautifully ordered and 
so happily blended as to give the 
greatest perfection of form to all 
kinds of domestic animals, and the 
highest excellence to almost every 
species of vegetable life; where the- 
degree of cold is just sufficient to de- 
stroy the germs of disabling disease, 
invigorate the physical system, and 
ameliorate the condition of the soil; 
where the landscapes are grand, in- 
spiring, and beautiful; where great 
rivers break through lofty mountains 
into fruitful and bewitching valleys, - 
teeming with the fatness of the earth, 
and bear upon their bosoms the pro- 
ducts of the mine^ field and forestr 
where coal and iron, zinc and cop- 
per, lead and marble, clays and phos- 
phates, timber, cotton and tobacco 
abound or are grown in such quanti- 
ties as to lay the foundation for a 
thousand industries that will furnish 
profitable employment to millions of 
persons; with all these advantages, 
opportunities, adaptabilities, com- 
forts, and surroundings, Tenn . e . s ?* e 
is literally the garden spot of all the 
earth." (Applause.) 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900* 



3$1 



RESPONSE OA T BEHALF OF SOUTH CABOIIK-A. 

BY HON. JOHN C. FICKBN.. 



Secretary Thompson: South Caro- 
lina. 

Chairman Story introduced Hon. 
John C. Ficken as the speaker who 
would respond for South Carolina, 
the "Palmetto State." 

Hon. John C. Ficken: "Mr. Chair- 
man, Ladies and Gentlemen: Ow- 
ing to the unavoidable absence of the 
governor it has devolved upon me to 
respond to the extremely cordial re- 
ception which we have met with from 
the people of Louisiana through 
their governor and the honored 
mayor of New Orleans. This recep- 
tion is more than appreciated; we 
treasure these kind words and desire 
to say that we reciprocate all that 
they have said to us. There has 
been in the past, and I hope there 
will be in the future, ties of deep 
and close interest Detween this city 
and the City of Charleston. We have 
helped you to disseminate through- 
out the length and breadth of the 
land all that great staple which has 
gone out with its wholesome sweet- 
ness into millions of homes. That is 
one of the great aims of our city. 
We want to restore connections with 
our friends on all sides, and our del- 
egation has come here to take part 
in your aims and to stand beside you 
in this great undertaking. Look 
back little more than two decades 
ago at our city and look at it to- 
day. The City of Charleston was 
practically in ashes, and her vitals 
were burned out. There were no in- 
dustrial enterprises there then. We 
did not see the chimney of the fac- 
tory nor hear the hum of machinery 
end we had to trust to agriculture. 
We deserved the pity of our friends. 
But the very first step we took led 
on to triumph and success. At our 
very doors and around us lay mil- 
lions of tons of phosphate rocks 
which had been there for ages, but 



we did not know" their value. Wheo. 
our trial came,, when necessity was 
upon us, we dug down and found re- 
sources which restored our city to its- 
pristine prosperity and gave it an 
ambition to stand beside the cities of 
the country. That was our first step. 
But in the interior there was desola- 
tion still, but we kept on our march J- 
in the industrial procession onward ^ 
up the mountain until we saw a 
waterfall, and we began to think 
'can we not use its power?' In. ask-, 
ing ourselves this question, we found 
the secret of further success.- We. 
have heard it said that the mills 
should come to the' cotton. Why, 
gentlemen, the mills have, literally 
come into South, Carolina, whole 
companies of them have come there 
with their capital. Dozens, yea, hun- 
dreds of mills have been erected, and 
now the hum of machinery is heard . 
in every county of the State,?most of ] 
the mills being owned by local capi- - 
tal. They are some of the best in- - 
vestments that can be made, and J 
considered desirable as such by ciii/'- 
zens elsewhere to invest in them. 

"Now, we have come down here to. 
hear what you have to say, amT! 
have listened with great attention^ to > 
the words that have fallen from-, the.-' 
lips of distinguished speakers here 
this morning. We have listened to 
these statistics and in friendly rival- 
ry we wish to go ahead of them. We- 
must keep up the fight and" have a 
higher ambition. We must not stop 
but go on, overcoming all obstacles 
in the way until the very highest 
success is achieved. Let us then 
have that object always before us, 
and let us remember that success- 
may best be achieved by our work- 
ing together. We all have the one- 
battle to fight, and must have the \ 
one victory." (Applause;.) ' 



RESPONSE ON BEHALF OF TEXAS. 

BY HON. J. W. RIGGINS. 



Secretary Thompson: I now call 
on Texas. 



Chairman Story: I will now intro- 
duce to you Mayor J. W. Riggins, of 



•«J^J 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



^Waeo, Texas, who will respond for 
JflUs State. 



J. W. Riggins, of Waco, 
- r &p0ke as follows: 

"Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentle- 
_' men: I .have been studying while 
• ttkese speeches were in progress, and 
j'Jia.'P® -been thinking about the big- 
» -gest State in the Union. It is my 
1 spmion tnat if I am to be distin- 
.i-gsuish-ed Jar anything in this Conven- 
vtioffl it will be because I have made 
tfas shortest speech about the big- 
gest and richest State in the Union. 
at is only a short time ago that I 
r was notified that I would be ex- 
pected to respond for Texas, and, gen- 
i tlemsn, I have a most gratifying an- 
i -jatKonoement to make, I have no set 
■ -speech. I will tell you why I think 
' thai Texas was put at the end of 
' this programme in the roll of States. 
: It seems to me that it was something 
: like this: A fellow had a yoke of 

■ eattle for sale, their names being 
' Tom and Jerry. Jerry was poor and 
1 leaa, while Tom was sleek and fat. 
" Well, the would be seller exhausted 
! liis vocabulary in talking about the 
< merits of Jerry and how much he 
' wcwsld pull, "but never a word about 
" Tom, 'Well,' said tbe gentleman to 

• -wtemn "he was trying to sell them, 

• *ytm have talked a whole lot about 
Jerry, what about Tom?' 'Humph!' 

'•-was the reply 'Tom is fat and he can 
tails: Tor himself.' (Laughter.) Gen- 

• tlemsn, Texas can speak for herself. 
" I rome from a state where the farm- 

■ «rs "have more money than the banks. 

■ From a State wnose size the English 
language can tell nothing about. 
She dips her feet and washes them 
la the harbor of Santiago. She finds 

'tier northern border in Kansas. She 
reaches out towards New York on 
-the east, and on the west she looks 
towards tne Orient. Grand is Texas. 
■< Applause.) 

"While Texas produces one-third or 

-the cotton crop of the United States, 
y&t less than 12 per cent of her fer- 
tile soil is under cultivation. The 
territorial extent of Texas is so vast 
that it is almost impossible to ade- 
quately describe, but if you take a 
map of the United States and lay 
it on tbe eastern border of Texas, El 

Waso will lie in the Atlantic Ocean. 



Fold it and place it against the 
northern State line and Galveston 
would be as far north as St. Paul. 
Mr. Chairman, she is a whopper, Tex- 
as is. (Laughter.) Now, I think we 
are trying to get into line down 
there, and let me say that to enable 
me to speak fittingly on the subject 
to-day it would take all the brilliant 
oratory of a Bryan, the irrepressible 
and ponderous logic of a McKinley 
and the prodigality of a Mark Hanna, 
to stand here and tell you of the 
richness and vastness of the Lone 
Star State. 

Mr. Chairman, I have not seen you 
since I have been in New Orleans, 
and I will tell you why I have not. 
I have been preaching for years the 
gospel of home industry. Now, I 
walked into a barber's shop, and bar- 
bers will talk, you know. I asked 
him about the city, and he began to 
'cuss' the city. I said 'hold on' hand 
me that towel' I wiped the soap off 
my face. He said 'What is the mat- 
ter?' I said 'No barber can shave me 
who talks against his own town.' (Ap- 
plause.) I had the same experience 
with a butcher once, in my part of 
the country. I priced a ,oint of meat, 
but while the butcher was cutting it 
he began to talk against his place, 
and abuse it. I said 'Stop right 
there. I don't want it.' He said 
'What is the matter' I replied T don't 
like your mouth.' Why, my boy will 
not buy a nickle's worth of candy 
without asking if it was made in 
"Waco. (Laughter and applause.) 

The South will never be in line 
until she says, we will and must 
have Southern stuff. That is what 
put Texas in line. I remember the 
days of the six-shooter and the pants 
in the boots and all these things. 
But what a transformation has come 
about. I remember very distinctly 
being at a table with others, and 
the old woman who acted as hostess 
looked up and said 'Have you uns 
been in Texas long enough to take 
your coffee without cream and sugar.' 
Of course, we answered 'yes' and she 
poured it out and we took it without 
cream and sugar. Finally when we 
had all been helped she said as she 
helped herself and husband liberally, 
'Both me and the old man take them 
in our'n.' That day, gentlemen, is 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



33 



passed; we all take cream and sugar 
to-day. Mr. Chairman, are we in 
line? The whole country is divided 
into two classes, the class of bleeders 
and the class of feeders. Texas is 
trying to increase the class of feed- 
ers. Formerly we were a lot of toil- 
ing slaves paying tribute to the New 
England States and to the rest of 
the world. . Let us throw off the 
remaining shackles and get into line, 
and let us take our raw material and 
manufacture it ourselves. (Ap- 
plause.) I saw a piece in the paper 
a. few days ago in regard to titled 
noblemen coming over here and 
stealing our American girls. People 
say 'What on earth are we going to 



do about it?' I answer, 'Support horn© 
industry.' (Laughter and Applause,> 
Mr. Chairman, I will not detain yoia 
any longer. It gives me much pleas- 
ure as a humble citizen of tae Lon©- 
Star State to thank your governor 
and mayor for their addresses ot 
welcome, and Texas with the mag- 
nificence of her greetings comes to 
shake hands with you, and with a big 
pocketbook well filled is able andt 
willing to render assistance and en- 
couragement to every industrial en- 
terprise, and help bring about, 
the establishment of industry and 
the music of the spindles." (Ar>~ 
plause.) 



APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEES. 



President Hargrove: I wish to an- 
nounce that I have made a departure 
from, the usual custom of appointing 
a committee on resolutions, and have 
instead subdivided the three princi- 
pal subjects coming before this con- 
vention, and named certain gentle- 
men as chairmen of these committees 
to prepare reports on these subjects. 
These reports to be submitted at 
the conclusion of the discussions on 
each speech or subject. The com- 
mittees can be formed by each State 
delegation selecting the men to be 
placed on each committee most con- 
versant with that particular subject, 
and notifying the chairman of their 
respective committees. In that way 
the committees will be composed of 
those versed in that particular mat- 
ter. The list of chairmen of commit- 
tees is as follows: 

Organization — Mr. Brobston. 

Nicaragua Canal — Sidney Story, of 
New Orleans. 

Technical Education — Chancellor 
R. B. Fulton, of University of Mis- 
sissippi. 



Manufacturing Interest's- or tfr^'- 
South— D. A. Tompkins, of Norta 
Carolina. 

Industrial Conditions in the South— 
Mayor J. w. Riggins, of Texas. 

Labor and Capital— Hon. John P* 
Coffin, of Florida. 

The Press of the South— Erwiou 
Craighead, of Mobile. 

Deep Water at the Passes— M. II 
Sanders, of New Orleans, 

Agriculture of the South— Prof. W~ 
C. Stubbs, of Louisiana. 

Immigration— Colonel J. B. Kille- 
brew, of Tennessee. 

Latin-American Trade— Leon Jas- 
tremski, of Louisiana. 

Cotton Manufacturing, — W. B*. 
Smith-Whaley, of South Carolina. 

Education— Hon. V. W. Grubbs, ot 
Texas. 

The Mississippi River— Judge N. C 
Blanchard, of Louisiana. 

The Lumber Interests— W„ CL. 
Boarman, of Louisiana. 

The convention then adjourned) 
until 2 P. M. 



TUESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION. 



President Hargrove called the Con- 
vention to order at 3 P. M. 

President Hargrove: I wish to ex- 
plain to you in order that there may 
be no doubt about the matter, the 
purport of the proposition made to 
you at the close of the morning ses- 



sion. It is proposed that a special 
report be prepared on each subject 
by a committee composed of gentle- 
men who are interested in and there- 
fore experts in that particular sub- 
ject. This to take the place of a com- 
mittee on resolutions. This has beecu 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



•-■arranged without consultation with 
this great body between myself and 
the secretary, therefore if there is a 
• desire for the establishment or cre- 
ation of a committee on resolutions 
■on any other committee, this body 
can so order. Is there any motion 
to create such a committee? 

Mr. Tom L. Cannon, of St. Louis: 

■I move that a committee on resolu- 

~ t tions, one delegate from each State, 

-" be appointed, to which committee 

~> all subjects not enumerated by you, 

" -can be referred. Seconded. 

President Hargrove: It is moved 

and seconded that a committee on 

'resolutions composed of one delegate 

from each State be created by this 

body. Carried. 

Mayor J. W. Riggins, of Waco, 
e Texas; was invited to take the chair 
*-■ for the afternoon session. 

Chairman Riggins: Gentlemen of 
-the Convention: We are a lot of 



business men who have come to- 
gether to transact business. Let us 
frame the resolutions, and pass on; 
do not let us linger to gather the 
weeds, the corn or the cotton. We 
are ready for business. 

President Hargrove: I request 
that I be given time to appoint the 
committee just now decided upon. 

Hon. Sidney Story, of New Or- 
leans: I move that all debates be 
limited to five minutes, and that it 
be made an iron clad rule. 

Mr. Tom L. Cannon, of St. Louis: 
I second that. 

Chairman Riggins: The chair un- 
derstands the resolution to be that 
each speaker in each debate be lim- 
ited to five minutes. 

The motion was carried. 

President H. H. Hargrove, of 
Shreveport, then read his annual ad- 
dress which was as follows: 



ANNUAL ADDRESS OF H. H. HARGROVE, 

President Southern Industrial Association. 



•During the expiring decade of the 
. nineteenth century, the enlightened 
; and progressive manhood of the 
South has by individual efforts 
" forged stupendous results par- 
tially formulating and exploiting aij 
s industrial spirit, which has inspired 
Jt sentiment of self-help, the Genesis 
of developing our resources, the 
foundation stone of Southern pros- 
perity. 

These individual developments, lo- 
cated sometimes in one State, and 
sometimes in another, have brought 
'success and fame to the enterprises 
so inaugurated, and the spirit of en- 
deavor has proven the leaven which 
spreads courage and hope through- 
out the confines of the South. 
Forces, unorganized, without a 
trained leader and strategist, and in 
the face of a money stringency, fall- 
, ing prices, and the insistent argu- 
ment that no appreciable industrial 
development could be accomplished 
have nobly effected these happy 
achievements. The vanguard of pro- 
gress thus set in motion invites and 
urges the entire people to join in the 
pursuit of a glorious future in devel- 
oping the immeasurable resources of 
field, forest, pasture, and mine in 



that section of our country which 
God gave as our inheritance, and 
which he has endowed as he has no 
other part of the world with every 
element of sustenance and raimenc 
for the use and comfort of the hu- 
man family. 

This invitation was first extended 
in 1899, and resulted in the coming 
together of many of the brainiest 
and most prophetic sons of the 
South. The first meeting was held 
in Huntsville, Alabama, October, '99, 
and the second in Chattanooga, Ten- 
nessee, May, 1900. And again to- 
day, in the leading metropolis of our 
Southern country, we have met in a 
third convention in order further to 
prepare and plan the attainment of 
that position of the affairs of the 
world, which, with proper effort, is 
easily within our grasp. 

During these months of agitation 
great strides have been made in de- 
veloping industrial life in the South, 
testifying to the value of organized 
efforts. 

We respond to the call of the 

chieftain to fight when he says our 

country is endangered — we rally 

when the party flag is unfurled— we 

wage a fierce contest when the fiery 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



35 



^elements besiege us — and it would 
seem that, when a campaign for 
prosperity, which is the true mis- 
sion of this convention, is inaugu- 
rated, under its banner every man, 
woman, and child would cheerfully, 
-enlist his talents, courage, and purse. 
There were many of our people, 
who, in former years, thought that, 



because the United States was one 
of the yongest nations, we must re- 
main in the background with our 
ambitions and business affairs. With 
this doctorine I cannot concur, and 
from its continued practice dissent, 
for the following reasons: 

We are indeed a great factor in 
the world's every need, and to har- 




EON. H. H. HARGROVE, PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTHERN INDUS- 
TRIAL ASSOCIATION. 



vest the fullness of our opportuni- 
ty, we should fix the price on every 
commodity which enters into the 
commerce of the world. 

The balance sheet, which will 
show how strong as a young nation 
we are, will be a thrilling story for 
the people of the South to read and 
digest. 



Of the world's area the United 
States represents 7 per cent, and of 
the world's population, she rep- 
represents only 5 per cent. 

The United States produces 80 per 
cent, of the world's cotton, 80 
per cent, of its cotton seed, 80 
per cent, of its corn, 30 per 
cent, of its gxain, 25 per cent 



36 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



of its wheat, 30 per cent, of its meat, 
30 per cent, of its iron, 40 per cent. 
of its steel, 40 per cent, of its min- 
eral products, 33 per cent, of its 
coal, 20 per cent, of its salt, and 
10 per cent, of its wool. 

She has 30 per cent, of the rail- 
way capital, and furnishes the cheap- 
est railway tonnage of the world, 
carrying a ten of freight 100 miles 
for 82 cents, against that of Great 
Britain of $3.48. France charges 
$1.44 and Germany $1.28 for like ser- 
vice, the latter having next to the 
United States, the cheapest railway 
service in the world. The United 
States has 12,000 miles more railroad 
trackage than all Europe combined. 

Her proportion of the world's rail- 
way mileage is 41 per cent, thus al- 
lowing for every 400 of her popula- 
tion one mile of railroad track, while 
the rest of the world has only a 
mile of track for every 5500 people. 

She produces more gold than any 
other part of the world, except Af- 
rica, more silver than any other part 
of the world, except Mexico, and 
coins annually nearly 20 per cent, 
of the world's metallic money. 

She manufactures anually a great- 
er product than England, France, 
and Germany collectively. Her ex- 
port manufactured articles amounted 
in 1898 to $25,000,000 monthly, in 

1899 to $31,000,000 monthly, and in 

1900 to nearly $40,000,000 monthly. In 
thirty years our manufactured out- 
put has increased from $3,700,000,000 
to $13,500,000:000. 

Besides all these overwhelming 
advantages possessed by our nation, 
we have a modern system of trans- 
portation, new and modern machin- 
ery, and 23.% per cent, of the world's 
wealth. 

As a nation we are 111 years old, 
and yet no single power can com- 
pare with ns in any element, except 
that England has a greater per cap- 
ita wealth, Argentine and Russia 
exceed, by a small amount, our wool 
supply, and Africa exceeds our gold 
output by a margin hardly apprecia- 
ble. 

This indeed fixes our status to be 
the superior and favored nation of all 
the world. Government, climate 
soil, mine, forest, fisheries, food, and 
timber resources picked from tne 
other 93 per cent, of the world's sur- 



face, could not equal us in natural, 
attractions. Our national . position 
being thus outlined as a world-power - 
it would be opportune to consider 
our Southern sectional ratio to this 
imposing array of resources and 
attractions. 

There are material over-mastering: 
facts of the South's natural resour- 
ces which must be studied to im- 
press us with our own happy posi- 
tion for the future. 

I estimate the native raw material 
of the South as a cash resource this ■ 
season, as follows: 

Cotton . ... $ 500,000,000 < 

Corn 150,000,000 ' 

Pine Lumber .'. . . 100,000,000 

Hardwood Lumber 25,000,000 

Staves 15,000,000 

Cypress 10,000,000- 

Hog Products 80,000,000 

Wheat 55,000,000 

Cotton Seed 45,000,000 

Poultry and Vegetables 55,000,000 

Pig Iron . 45,000,000 

Fruit, Melons, etc 60,000,000 

Coal 50,000,000 

Live Stock and Dairy . . 50,000,000 

Sugar \ 50,000,000 

Oats 20,000,000 

Hay 25,000,000 

Phosphate 20,000,000 

Fisheries 25,000,000 

Tobacco 25,000,000 

Coke 10,000,000 

Turpentine and Rosin.. 21,000,000 

Wool 15,000,000 

Lead and Zinc 30,000,000 

Potatoes 15,000,000 

Oranges .... 5,000,000 

Rice 5,000,000 

Peanuts 6,000,000 

Total $1,508,000,000 

"Besides this large amount, there 
are annual incomes from many min- 
erals, horses, mules, hides, tallow, 
beeswax, marble, building stones, 
clays, oils, lime, cement, rock, nuts, 
honey and wild game, representing 
possibly another $500,000,000 worth 
of native resources. Cotton and 
seed, the South's main resources, are 
this year the largest single items of 
raw material in the world. 

"The South has 2'5 per cent, of ttie- 
area of the United States, 33 per- 
cent, of its population, all of its cot— 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



37 



tion and cotton seed, 80 per cent, of 
its tobacco, 65 per cent, of its tim- 
Iber resources, 30 per cent, of its 
•coal area, 20 per cent, of its coal 
^production, 17 1-2 per cent, of its 
iron production, 30 per cent, of its 
railroad mileage, but only 20 per 

• cent, of its wealth, and less than 
10 per cent, of its manufacturing. 

"Per capita and per area, we have 
. greater natural resources in variety, 
quality and quantity than any other 
part of our country, and yet we have 
only 20 per cent, of its wealth, and 
10 per cent, of its manufacturing. 
Do not tnese three items inspire us 
with a sledge hammer force to com- 
prehend the work before this Con- 
vention, and therefore before the 
Southern people? We are not de- 
ficient in any raw material needed 
for the human race, nor in talents 

• or opportunities, but is it not over- 
whelmingly plain that systematic 
organization is our greatest need to 
develope these native latent resources 
to the point where they yield us the 
greatest wealth and commerce? 

"The work of agitation is impor- 
tant, the capacity to organize is 
needful, the concreting of the effort 
requires force and personality, all 

• too great for individual talents, 
time, or purse, and should be con- 
ducted by the aggregated wisdom, 
purse and influence of the Southern 
men. 

"I urge that a campaign be inau- 
gurated by each State to establish 
a prosperity club in every town 
which should have a strong official 
head, capable of studying the local 
conditions, needs and opportunities 
of each section, who could draw 
around him all available forces to 
secure everything possible to devel- 
ope the commerce, health, wealth 
and influence of that section. After 
thorough local organization of these 
prosperity or industrial clubs, a State 
convention should be held with all 
uniting in a great and enthusiastic 
effort for everything that is in sight 
for the upbuilding of our entire sec- 
tion. Alabama, Texas and Tennes- 
see, each have a State organization. 
" These State organizations would in 
turn take up the work of the South- 
ern Association. 

"We need a central Southern bu- 
reau of information of good income 



to correspond with every nook and 
corner of the South to ascertain the 
condition and need of each locality, 
and suggest to these localities a mode 
of procedure to secure best results. 
This central headquarters should or- 
ganize an industrial lecture touring 
force for the purpose of discussing 
and advocating at least a dozen im- 
portant industrial plants, to include 
cotton milis, cotton seed oil mills, re- 
fineries and their finished products, 
packeries, flour mills, farm imple- 
ments and machinery, and furniture 
factories, and keep these subjects be- 
fore the country. 

The central office should send 
monthly to the Southern press a re- 
port of its work, its growth, its pop- 
ularity, and its .success, and discuss 
each month some industrial need of 
the South. When we can manufac- 
ture cotton worth $50 per bale into 
goods worth six times its raw value, 
when cotton seed quoted at $15 per 
ton can be changed by the mills into 
a commodity valued at $75 — when 
live stock can be raised at a cost of 
$15 per head and converted into a 
value of $75 per head — when all of 
these facts and conditions are fully 
impressed on the minds of the peo- 
ple, they will be inspired to act with 
clear judgment and vigorous courage. 

"The comparisons with other sec- 
tions of our country test our sectional 
advantages as obvious and imposing. 
Suppose we compare the South with 
the three great nations of the world — 
England. France and Germany. 

"The population of the manufactur- 
ing nations of Europe represent in 
round figures 150,000,000 people, who 
buy from the United States 85 per 
eem. to 90 per cent, of our exports. 

"These great foreign manufactur- 
ing centers are deficient in food, fi- 
bres, timber resources, fuel and mine 
products. Great Britain is deficient 
in all food, and could not feed her 
people for 90 days from her own 
products. She is entirely without 
cotton, wool or silk, and is lacking 
in ores for steel and other important 
metals, while her coal is nearly ex- 
hausted. By her colonial population 
of 390,000,000, she has established and 
maintains a great system of work- 
shops, which have produced vast 
wealth for that nation. Germany is 
deficient in food and all fibres and 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



many metals; and while France is 
supplied with food, she, too, is de- 
ficient in fibres, metal, coal and lum- 
ber. 

"The South produces every one of 
these articles in great abundance, and 
can increase them tenfold. Why 
should we sell them as cheap raw 
material? Southern coal costs at the 
'pit per ton $1; English coal costs 
$1.58; German $1.85; . French $2.25. 
The South has four and two-third 
times greater coal area than Eng- 
land, France and Germany combined. 
These three nations own 60 per cent. 
of the spindles of the world, and pur- 
chased last year from the South, six 
millions bales of cotton, worth $250,- 
000,000. They purchased in addition 
from the South $25,000,000 worth of 
cotton seed oil and meal. Thus we 
have three great nations purchasing 
annually from the South $275,000,000 
worth of raw products from which 
they manufactured a product worth 
more than a billion dollars. Shall 
we enable foreign nations to make 
$4 to our $1? 

"These same nations exported from 
the United States other articles which 
the South should furnish, to-wit: hog 
products, $110,000,000; beef, $100,000,- 
000; grain, $183,000,000; dairy pro- 
ducts, $5,000,000. 

"The South produces as much iron 
as France, and more than 25 per cent, 
of the iron of either England or 
Germany. The South has 56.000 
miles of railroad trackage against 
Germany's 30,000, Frances 25 0:0, and 
England's and Ireland's 21,000. and 
is thus ecnial to either two of them, 
though the South has only 4 per 
cent, of the wealth of these great 
nations. There nations manufacture 
more than 600 per cent, greater val- 
ues than the South, and hence their 
vast wealth and our extreme de- 
ficiency in wealth. 

"To ripen and harvest our great 
storehouse of natural wealth, we are 



in urgent need of better schooling.. 
A strong system of technical educa- 
tion should be inaugurated in every 
State through its common school sys- 
tem, and should have as its crown. 
a State institution of technology- 
Then the South through her men of 
wealth, should endow a great South- 
ern Technological University, such as. 
is being advocated by B. F. John- 
son, of Richmond, Va. 

"Besides all these, the National. 
Government should grant from its 
public land sales, $1,000,000 to found 
a Textile University to care for the' 
American fibres, which are now the 
largest single natural resource of the 
earth, and greater on this continent 
than in all other parts of the world! 
combined. 

"These much desired results will 
assure us a manufactured product of 
$8,000,000,000 instead of $2,000,000,000 
annually. They will give us annual, 
prosperity and permanent wealth, 
and will enable us to establish our 
own export trade, operate our own 
shops, and build as never before our 
Southern seaport towns and com- 
merce. 

"These points, I believe, cover the 
true work, aims and objects of the 
Southern Industrial Association.^ 

"The program for this Convention 
has been arranged as far as it was 
possible, to present in every address 
an essential feature of the develop- 
ment of some one of the raw mater- 
ials of the South, and to have the- 
subject discussed by the highest au- 
thority—an expert — in each instance, 
so as to get a concreted experience 
before the people of the South. 

"No other agency has ever at- 
tempted a work so brilliant for the 
Sonth, and the task is a labor of 
love, and should challenge the most 
earnest and patriotic support of the 
business, brains and purse of our 
countrymen." (Loud applause.) 



THE SOUTHERN INDUSTRIAL ( OXVKXTIOX 

BY DR. E. A. ALDERMAN. 
President of Tulane University. 



Chairman Riggins: I will now call address you on, "The Southern In- 
upon Dr. E. A. Alderman of duftria] Convention." 
Tulane University, this city, who will Dr. E. A. Alderman. Presi- 



Held 



New Orleans, December _/-/, 1900. 



\9 



■^dent of Tulane University, then made 
the following address: 

"Mr. President: I am here to-day 
at your kindly bidding, because I 
believe that the highest interests of 
a country are vitally dependent upon 
its economic freedom, because I have 
the honor to represent Tulane Uni- 
versity, which has seen this depend- 
ence and ministered to it from its 



birth, and because I believe that this 
Association is a mighty educational 
institution, and may be made, by 
organization, a splendid regenerative 
force in Southern life. 

"The Southern man who had 
reached manhood's estate in the bat- 
tle-summer of 1861 and who is alive 
to-day has lived in two worlds. The 
world of his youth was a patriarchal 




DR. E. A. ALDERMAN, PRESIDENT TULANE UNIVERSITY. 



age, isolated, individual and conser- 
vative. There issued from it the 
smallest but the alertest political 
force Christendom has ever known. 
The American Union had sprung 
from its brains, and had been ex- 
tended by the valor of its arms. Yet 
"it did not produce, In any just de- 
gree, either wealth or letters, and 



it did not promote in any just degree 
the causes of labor, immigration, in- 
vention, industry and philanthrophy. 
It was a kind of splendid but passive 
aloofness in which lingered the beau- 
tiful old ideals of courage and beauty 
and gracious dignity. 

"There was but one great South- 
ern question then, and this for its 



40 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



treatment did not so much need 
thrift, scientific knowledge and the 
spirit of gain and growth, as it did 
strength of will, oneness of purpose, 
integrity and masterlulness of char- 
acter. Hence the historic forces of 
the time played on these lines, and 
there arose a lovahle and dauntless 
race of men, who wrought with a 
sad sincerity for their cause, com- 
promising nothing, withholding noth- 
ing, until the Titanic struggle wore 
to its end. 

"The world of his old age has be- 
come an industrial democracy, its 
problems no longer primitive and di- 
rect, but intense and complicated. 
The old individualism has given place 
to combination and capitalism, ser- 
vile labor to free labor, hand labor 
to machinery, the mule to electricity. 
The best products are to be raised, 
the best goods manufactured, the 
best routes to market devised. Hence, 
like a belated army, the . South is 
seeking to conquer, aye, has con- 
quered, a place in material civiliza- 
tion; its dreamers become captains 
of industry and its idealists lords of 
trade. It is a world in which the 
community which cannot use ma- 
chinery, or which does not under- 
stand the laws of production and dis- 
tribution, must become industrially 
servile. If the negro cannot under- 
stand these things, he must continue 
to hew wood and draw water. If 
the Indian cannot, he must perish 
from the earth. If the white man, 
wherever located, does not make him- 
self master of these forces, he must 
wear forever the badge of servitude. 
It is a world when, in six months, 
an army of. 250,000 men can be sent 
from England to Africa and the fate 
of a continent settled. 'A battle 
ship can overthrow in an hour the 
sovereignty of five centuries, and the 
Chinese empire, old as time, is melt- 
ing to pieces in the glare and heat 
of steam and electricity.' It is the 
epoch of the exact mind, the subtle 
brain, the cunning hand. I digress 
for a moment to say that between 
these two worlds there was a period 
of submersion in which there hung 
in the balance the mighty issue 
whether a section of the white race 
should preserve its standards, its 
homes, its governmental conscious- 
ness, or whether it should descend to 



an inferior type. At the sacrifice ofT 
their own highest ideals of growth,.. 
Southern white men born between.- 
1835 and 1850 have done two mighty 
things. They have asserted their 
right to manage their own affairs, 
and they have created and developed,, 
under stupendous difficulties, mar- 
velous material resources. And they 
have done these two things so well 
that those of us born since 1861 find 
ourselves living in a new world of" 
friendly feeling, of waning intoler- 
ance, of decreasing social sensitive- 
ness, of industrial power and educa- 
tional desire. To my thinking, no 
generation of Americans, save tae' 
men who made the Constitution and 
the pioneers who builded the great 
West, deserve so well of their pos- 
terity as these bearers of war's bur- 
dens. It is a poor American who is 
not proud of them, and a spiritless- 
Southern man who does not render 
to them the tribute of his love and' 
gratitude. In short, in one genera- 
tion of brilliant intellectual audacity 
and grim purpose, the South has lost 
its peculiar economic distinctiveness,, 
and has become part of American- 
hope and American destiny. 

"Something out of the ordinary is- 
always needed to embody in a graph- 
ic and impressive way the permanent*" 
elements in such large social changes. 
The first time a just perception of* 
it all really bit its way into my 
mind was when I stood, in 1895, in 
the plaza at Atlanta and saw that 
magnificent display ranged about me- 
Piedmont Hills, the work of former- 
master and former slave. I felt as 
if I were in the presence of a mighty 
herald proclaiming to all people that 
the long-slumbering land, freed from- 
hindering tradition and the paralysi3 
of war, had enrolled itself among the- 
great producing nations of the world. 

"It comes to me with dramatic 
force when I pass through sleepy lit- 
tle Southern towns that formerly 
dozed under their double rows of 
trees and boiled over in hot talk of 
States' rights and squatter sovereign- 
ty, and find them black and busy 
and dirty and happy, sending through 
the ends of the earth salable things 
made out of wood and iron and cot- 
ton and steel. 

"It possesses me again when I se©' 
in my fancy that long skirmish line- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



41 



«€>f cotton factories extending from 
the banks of the Roanoke to the 
^waters of the Gulf, and when I read 
the speeches and statistics of the able 
men of this Convention teaching me 
that the South has increased its spin- 
dles 300 per cent, in ten years; that 
she furnishes 75 per cent, of the raw- 
material, and, in spite of this in- 
crease, only 6 per cent, of the spin- 
dles, showing that the work has just 
begun: that cotton manufactured into 
cotton cloth triples its value, or into 
fancy ginghams increase its value 
tenfold. 

"It is well to keep in mind that 
there are other things besides cotton 
in the South. I have a peculiar real- 
ization of it all in my duties as a col- 
lege president. Letters have poured 
into my office from Southern young 
men seeking higher training and de- 
claring their eagerness to do any 
kind of honorable labor, from cutting 
wood to serving at table, in order 
to obtain this training. They have 
presented themselves to me seeking 

•such labor by the score, hard of hand, 
strong of face, rough of manner, but 
with the pitiless Scotch enthusiasm 

'for learning in forming their faces. 
I have seen them emerge after four 
years with something new and rich 

- and strange in their faces and a new 
power and a new purpose in their 

"hands and brains to produce some- 
thing and to dignify labor. (Ap- 

-plause.) 

"The last impressive reminder of 

•the new order and the new duties is 
this great Conventiun here assembled 
in this ancient city, so well ac- 
quainted with grief and disaster, but 
now, superior to all shocks, thrill- 
ing with new hope and energy. Such 

" bodies of men representing all sec- 
tions and parties, standing for every 

"profession and every economic in- 
terest, do not leave their homes save 

in obedience to great ideas and to 
execute large purposes. 

"As it is the latest, so to my mind 
this Convention is the greatest of 
these evidences of social rebirth. 

"Masses of marching men shouting for 
favorite sons do not gather about 

its doors. The heat and red fire of 

partisanship are absent from its de- 
liberations, and yet it impresses my 

imagination as much more than these 

moisier things as the sun's rays sur- 



pass a bonfire. I see in it an un- 
hasting, quiet force, incarnate com- 
mon sense, rational purpose and 
clear-eyed understanding of human 
needs and material forces. There is 
no measuring what it may do if it 
takes itself seriously. It is a singular 
and startling thing that no Southern 
college attempts the study of social 
phenomena in any large, adequate 
or organized way. Their students 
approach these subjects in public life 
in the spirit of the empiric, the dilet- 
tante or tne politician, anu uo not 
bring to them the trained habit of 
mind, the trained orderliness of 
thought needed for their mastery. 
This is due to poverty of equipment, 
This Association may help to change 
that condition, and may render a 
great service to education by show- 
ing to the people how universities 
are their servants, seeking always 
to adjust scientific power to social 
needs. Thus the spirit of philan- 
thopy may be awakened among our 
own people, and without that spirit 
no great results can come. As a 
stunting inheritance from poverty 
and war, we are prone to attempt 
large designs with small means. 
Great sums are needed, and they 
must come from home. This Asso- 
ciation may stimulate every com- 
munity. It may set up new ideals 
in a thousand homes. It may set 
in motion and keep in motion ideas 
that will change permanently the di- 
rection of the activities of our peo- 
ple. 

"And this association may do an- 
other thing of vast import. It may 
help to bring in the era of true in- 
dividualism which seeks the good of 
the whole as opposed to whim of the 
unit, which strives for community ef- 
fort, for large civic spirit and for 
that persistent, concerted and ra- 
tional effort for large public ends, 
without which no enduring progress 
in society can be made. Men of phil- 
anthropic impulses are easily moved 
to helpfulness by the spectacle of the 
black race striving to fit itself for 
rspub'.ican citizenship unwi ely thu=t 
upon it. They are not so easily 
moved by the spectable of the white 
race striving to fit itself for the noble 
discharge of an unparalleled sociolog- 
ical duty. And yet that is the pivot 
of the whole question. The educa- 



42 



Minutes of Tlie Southern Industrial Convention, 



tlon of one untaught white man to 
the point where it is clear to him 
that knowledge and not prejudice 
must guide his conduct, and that for 
the honor of his name and country, 
and his posterity, he must deal with 
these people in justness and kindness 
and Christian forethought, is worth 
more to the black man himself than 
the education of ten of his own race. 
I believe that any Southern univer- 
sity is doing more to lift up the col- 
ored race through the broad-minded 
men it is training and sending into 
life than nine-tenths of the schools 
for higher education of the negro, an 1 
if these universities had the means 
to set in operation academic forces 
to study and investigate and digest 
the great problem, instead of thresh- 
ing out old straw, their power would 
be increased tenfold. It is wise and 
just to help the black man, but it 
would be equally wise and just to 
recognize that the white man is the 
dominant force, and that he will act 
in the light of his knowledge and 
training. The white man has shown 
himself to possess courage and fidel- 
ity and self-respect and pride. He 
needs help in the right way, though 
he is too proud generally to say so. 
Save among the most ignorant, there 
is no truculence, no passion, but a 
high desire to do right. 

"Some resistless expansive ideas 
have gotten into the heads of the 
Southern people, or rather, I should 
say, they have simply relearned the 
hang of industrial life, for their 
fathers understood before slavery 
came with its dominant note into 
our economic system. 

"The South is still the land of con- 
servatism, of ideals, of enthusiasms, 
and of refusal to be submerged by 
the mere brute force of commercial- 
ism, but its leaders at least have 
taken to heart a few great princi- 
ples. 

"1. No civilization can ' become 
great in poverty any more than a 
man can do his best work in hunger 
and nakedness. There must be some 
leisure for consideration of the higher 
things of living, and this leisure 
comes out of skillful work. A man's 
or a nation's first duty is to earn 
bread and clothing, to build homes 
and cities, to keep them clean and 
healthy. After men have done that, 



then they have a tolerably fair right 
to enjoy the Venus of Milo or a 
musical symphony, and they are 
more likely to struggle up out of 
mind and spirit. Wealth has its trials, 
ominous and tryannous, but poverty 
especially in urban conditions, is 
half-crime and half-tragedy. If all 
men had some industrial skill, the 
tragic extremes of society would ap- 
proach each other, and there would 
be less tyranny of the rich and less 
sullen envy of the poor. (Applause.) 

"2. To grow in wealth, a people 
must know machinery and the organ- 
ization of industry, thereby enabling 
it to get with least cost its own raw 
material, to convert that material 
into the sxanufac Lured prcduct, End to, 
find the best markets, indeed, a peo- 
ple must know these things to keep 
from becoming slaves to people who 
do. 

"3. To bring about this knowledge 
there must be technical education in> 
the colleges and schools, and con- 
stant agitation and information! 
among the people away from the col- 
leges. Democracies move slowly be- 
cause they must be taught and not 
driven. When the Southern people' 
realize these truths in their nerves- 
and blood and bones, vivid action 
will follow and not until then. Our 
people still have the old-fashioned 
habit of submitting to being talked 
to and written at, and this agitation 
of tongue and pen must go on for 
another decade. 

"Perhaps this may get itself beau- 
tifully illustrated before this Conven- 
tion is over. (Laughter and ap- 
plause.) 

"The colleges will do their part. 1 
pledge Tulane to continue to do its 
part in furnishing trained men for 
actual service. This great Associa- 
tion must do its part in teaching the 
great masses by gathering and dis- 
tributing to them the best thought 
on all economic subjects. That task 
requires organization and perma- 
nence. To my mind this Association 
should be a great scheme of univer- 
sity extension in economics, in the 
widest sense of that term, using its 
officers as teachers and its organiza- 
tion as a bureau to get economic in- 
formation from the best sources and 
to send it hot and glowing to the 
people through the mighty agency of 



Held in New Orleans, Dcember 4-7, 1900. 



43:" 



the press. It will do great good if 
it simply meets, speaks and dis- 
bands. It will do greater good if it 
organizes and never disbands, but 
by means of intelligent officers pro- 
pagate ideas every day in the year 
and every hour in the day. 

"And this is my practical sugges- 
tion: This Association should con- 
sider the wisdom of making itself a 
permanent institution to teach the 
people here sound, economic ideas, 
and to teach the people everywhere, 
from Maine to Latin-America, and 
from New Orleans to those peoples 
in the Pacific, whom the great canal 
shall make our neighbors, our cus- 
tomers and our friends, the splendid 
virgin resources of the Southern 
States. 

"Especially is it desirable to have 
accurate knowledge of the South and 
its potentialities carried to our breth- 
ren of the North and West. The 
cry has sometimes gone up from 
the South, 'Let us alone! We wish 
to manage our own affairs!' It was 
the cry of exasperation of sensitive 
people, who had suffered much at the 
altruism of the remote, the olympian 
scorn of the doctrinaire and the 
cocksure criticism of the unaffected, 
and uninformed. But that same peo- 
ple need and desire substantial, 
brotherly common-sense sympathy 
and co-operation, and no people in 
the world will receive such inter- 
ference with a kindlier and more 
grateful spirit. (Applause.). Their 
cry is not a plea for isolation, but 
for confidence in their Americanism 
and in the integrity of their pur- 
poses. As Americans, we have a 
stupendous social problem to work 
out and we need the heart and brain 
of every honest-hearted American to 
help us in the task. It is not the 
solid South that is to be desired, nor 
the solid North, but a co-operative 
South and a North that sympathizes 
and understands. 

"The Supreme question of the 
eighteenth century sounding through 
all its brilliant philosophy was this: 
'What are the rights of man.' It 
was the age of Constitutions, Dec- 
larations and Revolutions. The su- 
preme question of the nineteenth 



century, especially in America,, hearcs 
in the clack of its machines and the 
shriek of its steam whistles, has been. 
this: 'How are these rights to be 
made available for the production of 
wealth?' The United States to-day 
sells coal, cloth and cash to Europe. 
The financial heart of the world beats 
in New York. Lord Rosebery, him- 
self, declares that England, strug- 
gling in the front of the great race 
she entered upon in 1815, sees, with 
blanched face, falling across her 
pathway, the hurrying shadow of: 
America. The Southern States until 
1870 has been deaf to this query. It 
has been in the eighteenth century 
struggling with the rights of man. 
through no fault of its own, while 
its sister States have developed types - 
of men who are to machinery and" 
industry what the Greek were to 
sculpture, and the Italians to art. 
The question of the twentieth cen- 
tury, already plainly heard above 
restless clamor and discontent, will 
be, "What is the duty of society in 
regard to the wealth it has created?' 
And that, as Kipling says, 'is an- 
other, and a portentious story.' In. 
the meantime, nothing remains for 
us to do but to learn the use of the 
weapons of the times and to get pos- 
session of ourselves and our re- 
sources in order that we may become - 
genuine, vital, sympathetic factors 
in the struggles and triumphs of the - 
new century. 

"There will be need for the man 
who sees things straight and clear 
and hates mere violence; who has no 
fear of oppression because he is 
strong; who cannot be deceived be- 
cause he has been trained and knows 
truth from mania; who cannot be 
starved because his hands have skill. 
When the age of moral warfare 
comes, and blind social forces have - 
wrought some tangle of injustice and 
unequality— the people will seek in 
their great need for this type of man 
and he will be their hero." (Loud 
and prolonged applause.) 

Dr. Alderman's address was punc- 
tuated with applause throughout, 
and he sat down amid the utmost en— - 
thusiasm. 



33 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



DISCUSSION". 



Chairman Riggins: Discussion is 
•mow in order, and r trust that you 
will take up this eloquent address 
•and discuss it thoroughly. The chair 
arequests that when arising you will 
.announce your name and locality. 

Mr. V. W. Grubbs of Texas: I de- 
sire, sir, to emphasize a portion of 
that address or paper, by resolution, 
^which 1 beg to have the privilege 
'©f reading: 

Resolved, That the object of the 
Stale In the establishment and main- 
tenance of public free schools and 
other educational institutions should 
"be the preparation of the youth for 
"the efficient and proper discharge of 
'the duties of citizenship, that they 
•may thereby be enabled to contribute 
"to the fullest possible extent to the 
development of all the resources and 
^possibilities of the commonwealth, 



and that any system of education 
which fails in the accomplishment of 
said object is defective and ought to 
be reformed. 

Resolved, That the great move- 
ment in the South for the building 
of factories, promotion of industrial 
enterprises, generally emphasizes the 
necessity for the education of the 
Southern youth along industrial 
lines. 

Resolved, That we fully indorse the 
work outlined by the Southern Board 
of Industrial Education, and urgently 
request the hearty co-operation of the 
people of the South in the promotion 
of a comprehensive and efficient sys- 
tem of technical and industrial edu- 
cation. 

The report was referred to the 
Committee on Resolutions. 



PtEPOET OF COMMITTEE OX ORGANIZATION. 



Mr. Edwin Brobston of Georgia: 
"'Before submitting the report of the 
'Committee on Permanent Organiza- 
tion, 1 wish to pay a tribute to the 
eloquent paper which has just been 
read "by Dr. Alderman. It shows the 
statement recently made in the 
"Manufacturers' Record" to be well 
founded, that the South is heir to 
all the ages and is just coming into 
iter own. Hailing from a section of 
that State which has been particu- 
larly active in the development field, 
the State of Georgia, hailing from 
a. Congressional District which has 
in the -past ten years increased from 
155,000 to more than 227,000 popula- 
tion, hailing from a seaport town 
which has increased her commerce 
from less than half a million dollars 
tn 1881) to a little less than $30,000,- 
3>00 already this vear. it is needless 
for me to add that I am intensely 
Interested in the objects which we 
Isave met to discuss and formulate 
plans Tor their speedier accomnlish- 
■ment. T attended the Convention 
"field at Huntsville, when there were 
a lot of papers read, numerous dis- 
cissions, in fact, it may be said that 
•we met, we talked, we adjourned. I 
attended the Convention at Chattan- 



ooga, Tenn., six months ago. We 
met there and a number of distin- 
guished people presented papers, 
made speeches and passed resolu- 
tions. Business, no politics, is the 
motto of this Convention. The Con- 
vention spirit seems to be growing. 
There has been a world of informa- 
tion drawn out about ourselves, about 
our own towns and cities, and there 
has been a spirit developed indicat- 
ing an appreciation of the fact that 
this is a great work, and that there 
is a greater work still to be accom- 
plished. To do this, however, the 
work has to be systematized, boiled 
down, and put into some definite 
shape for some definite end. As a 
result of some discussion between a 
few of us, a committee was formed, 
of wh'ch I was named the chairman, 
with the request that I confer with 
pronrnent people throughout the 
Southern States who were identified 
with industrial movements, and see 
if we could not present a plan. To 
that end also, a meeting was held 
last night in this city, in which some 
seven or eight Southern States were 
represented, and as a result of these 
deliberations, we have a plan which 
we are here now to present for the 



Held in Nezv Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo„ 



45" 



permanent organization of this body, 
which report I request that the secre- 
tary now read. 

Secretary N. F. Thompson: The 
report of the Committee on Organiza- 
tion is as follows: 

This organization shall be known 
as the Southern Industrial Associa- 
tion. It shall be incorporated with 
home office, and may have an auxil- 
iary in each State. Its objects are to 
promote the industrial development 
of the South; to become an agency 
for gathering and disseminating data 
regarding the resources of the South; 
to aid in organizing and maintain- 
ing commercial organizations or bus- 
iness clubs throughout the South, 
and, in general, to become the me- 
dium for stimulating the people of 
the Southern States into greater ef- 
forts for manufacturing their raw 
materials on their own soil, and also 
seek to interest capital to invest in 
the South and settlers to come among 
us. 

Members. 
Any person can become a member 
of this Association who is in har- 
mony with the foregoing purposes, 
on paying the required membership 
fee, and is recommended by the exec- 
utive committee of this Association. 

Membership Fee and Annual Dues. 
The membership fee shall be $5 
and $5 annual dues thereafter. An- 
nual dues to be payable at the be- 
ginning of the second year of mem- 
bership. 

Officers. 
This Association shall have a presi- 
dent and one vice-president from 
each Southern State, and a secretary 
and treasurer. The latter officer 
shall be appointed by the executive 
committee, which shall be composed 
of the president, vice-presidents and 
secretary of the Association, and who 
shall be elected annually. Three 
vice-presidents, with the president 
and secretary, shall constitute a quo- 
rum for the transaction of any busi- 
ness requiring action by the execu- 
tive committee. The executive com- 
mittee shall designate a first vice- 
president of the Association. 

Duties of Officers. 
The duties of the officers of this 



Association shall be to advance its** 
interests in all legitimate ways and 
aid in securing proper means to <sany.- 
on its work. In the absence,. feat&L 
or resignation of the president an&, 
first vice-president the vacancy shall, 
be filled by the executive committee* . 

Annual Meetings. 
The Association shall hold Its- 
meetings annually, but nothing lis.. 
this requirement shall operate to pre- 
vent the executive committee front, 
calling the Association, together 
"w henever, in their judgment, any oc- 
casion requires it. The annual meet- 
ings may be general conventions at" 
all industrial interests in. the SoutiE^ 
or confined to members of the Asso- 
ciation, as the executive committed- 
may direct. If general conventions, 
are held, all can participate in the- 
proceedings, but only members will 
be entitled to vote on questions comb- 
ing before the same. 

Bureau and Lyceum Work, 
The executive committee may es- 
tablish a bureau and lyceum. a® Sfe> 
separate department of this Associa- 
tion when conditions will warranto 
the same. But nothing in this re- 
quirement shall operate to prevent 1 . 
the general work of the Association::, 
being carried on by the regular of- 
ficers of the same in fulfillment of:' 
its plans and purposes. The officers: * 
shall receive such compensation as. 
the executive committee shall fix. 

The executive committee shall pro- 
vide by-laws for the Association. 

Chairman Riggins: Gentlemen of" 
the Convention, you have heard: th<&- 
report, what is your pleasure? 

Moved and seconded that it fce> 
adopted. 

Mr. Ousley, of Galveston: It ap>~- 
pears to me that it needs some re- 
flection as to whether this shall be- 
come a permanent organization of &< 
few individuals, or whether it shall 
become a permanent representatiY<& 
body. I should like to move that the- 
report on organization now read be 
made a special order for to-morroTsr 
at 4 o'clock. 

Amended by John Fitzpatricfc off' 
New Orleans, and made the special- 
order for Thursday afternoon ses- 
sion, a number of delegates partieS— 
pating in the discussion. 



46 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convent 



ion, 



President Hargrove: I wish to an- 
nounce the Committee on Resolutions 

■ as follows: 

W. H. Kettig, Birmingham, Ala., 

■ Chairman. 

W. W. Walton, Little Rock. Ark. 

Hon. John p. Coffin, Lake Butler 
JFla. 

E. B. Neal, Atlanta, Ga. 
- L. A. McCoy, Lake Charles, La. 
.. F. B. -Thurber. New York. 



Tom L. Cannon, St. Louis, Mo. 
Wm. F. Gray, Meridian, Miss. 
John A. Kreiss, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
N. B. Kelly, Philadelphia, Pa. 
D. A. Tompkins, Charlotte, N. C. 
H. D. Phelps, Chicago, 111 
B. C. White, Washington, D. C. 
J. C. Hemphill, Charleston, 8. C. 
W. H. Riley, Memphis, Tenn. 
Clarence Ousley, Galveston, Texas. 



THE DUTY OF THE CITIZEX. 

BY M. V. RICHARDS. 



''Chairman Riggins: I will now in- 
I'iroduce to you as the next speaker 
-•"Mr. M. V. Richards, Land and in- 
' dustrial Agent, Southern Railway 
■ Company, who will address you on 
- "The Duty of the Citizen." 

Mr. M. V. Richards spoke as fol- 
lows: 

"The growth and development of 
; a country largely depends upon the 
intelligent effort of its people. It 
would seem, therefore, eminently 
• apropos that we discuss the duties 
the citizen should perform in con- 
nection with the promotion of the in- 
- dustrial welfare of the country m 
•general, and of the section in which 
he resides in particular. All should 
•be interested in the advancement of 
the industrial and commercial fea- 
tures of the country — there should be 
no minority when questions to de- 
velope the country arise; each and 
every citizen should find it a duty 
r£o participate in the opportunity to 
-.-aid in promoting every feasible move- 
: nrenfc,, the purpose of which is to de- 
'"■velope along practical lines. 
; ""Time will not permit of bringing 
Into this discussion incidents in An- 
cient History, which go to show the 
results accomplished by the people 
of those periods: but the lessons 
taught would be the same as those 

JQOW. 

"It has been my privilege to come 
* In contact with many people, in many 
"towns of many States, and as my 
avocation was to aid in the develop- 
ment of many of those places, it has 
-afforded me opportunities to reach 
conclusions relative to the effect of 
-the attitude of the people upon these 
questions generally. I hope that I 



can congratulate each individual 
present that the opinions and com- 
parisons will not apply to the peo- 
ple of his section; but, if so, it may 
result in some valuable suggestions, 
which, it is hoped, will be speedily 
directed through avenues where they 
will be most effectual. The citizen 
not working in harmony with his 
people, in their effort to carry on a 
commendable movement, is the one 
whom we desire particularly to 
reach, and hence is the subject to 
which I request your indulgence. 

"If the question, What is the duty 
of the citizen,' had been propounded 
to me some years ago when I was 
a boy out on the then frontier por- 
tion of this great Mississippi Val- 
ley, digging potatoes, husking corn, 
looking after the cattle, or doing the 
work generally delegated to the 
farmer boy, I would have said in re- 
ply, 'Look out for yourself, and let 
the other fellow do the same.' Some, 
yes, many still cling to that princi- 
ple. I am truly grateful for the 
change in my own views. We 
should discard selfish motives, and 
must do so, if we are to be classed 
rmong the number that do their duty 
t^ the community in which they re- 
side. We want results, and in order 
to secure the greatest return for our 
labor, we must 'cut short corners.' 
dwell long on matters valuable, and 
be brief with those from which there 
are no benefits to be derived. 

"We live in a period full of prom- 
ise: success follows intelligent and 
honest effort; happiness awaits the 
deserving. 

"The citizen who does not appre- 
ciate his opportunity, or take advan- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



47 



"tage of the situation, should not and 
will not receive the commendation of 
the public. 

"The South has reached an impor- 
tant era in its industrial develop- 
ment. Every section is favored with. 
. great natural advantages. As the ad- 
vancement and development rests 
with the people, the narrow-minded, 
selfish citizen might as well throw 
down the armor and leave the field; 
his policy will not build up; the 
space he occupies is wasted — he 
should vacate and make room for one 
willing to participate in all laudable 
movements, without inflicting pessi- 
mistic views on the energetic and 
mopeful. The citizen owes to the pub- 
lic a reasonable amount of time and 
labor, and he should give both will- 
ingly. If he does not, then he is a 
barrier of opposition rather than an 
acquisition of help and strength. In 
my native State there exists a 'poll 
tax' law* The citizen is assessed a 
certain amount of money annually, 
or so many days' work on the public 
highways. This plan secures for that 
State good roads, and the public gen- 
erally is benefited. So it should be 
with other public enterprises. If you 
desire to advertise your town or city, 
all citizens should most cheerfully 
contribute to that end. If they can- 
not give money, they should be in 
possession of a sufficient amount of 
public spirit to work and talk for 
you. It is a duty, and should be a 
pleasure also. Many Boards of Trade. 
Business Men's Leagues, Chambers 
of Commerce and similar organiza- 
tions which are established expressly 
for the purpose of placing the ad- 
vantages of the town or city in which 
organized before the outside world, 
succomb to failure for want of co- 
operation on the part of the citizens 
who should give their active sup- 
port. There is too much valuable 
work pending for such organizations 
to excuse the failures. I mean work 
along reasonable and legitimate 
lines; not upon propositions practi- 
cal in theory alone. We are here 
in goodly number; many of us have 
had more or less experience in such 
"work in our own section. Think the 
subject over. If the desired result 
lias not been reached, something is 
"wrong — it has not been organized 
properly, the right men are not be- 



hind the movement, your citizens are 
not doing their duty. When you re- 
turn home, give the question serious 
consideration, and I predict you will 
come to the next Convention full of 
praise for the lesson taught here to-, 
day. 

"One "can decide in a short time 
after arrival at a place whether tne 
citizens are generally doing their 
duty to the community. I have seen 
the prospector for a location practi- 
cally driven away from places by 
the citizens thereof not doing their 
duty. Towns are developed into 
cities by the citizens following their 
duty — towns retrograde into inferior 
villages through the policy of their 
citizens to tear down instead of build 
up. As stated, this is a progressive 
age, and, to succeed, we must keep 
abreast with the times; we must fall 
into modern ways, and it would be 
advisable to see if we can't improve 
upon present plans and methods, and 
thereby surpass our neighboring 
town. Just because a town secures 
a certain industry and your town 
does not, is no reason why you 
should charge the failure to the debt- 
or side of your town ledger and 
make no effort to fill in the credit 
side. Close the account, keep up 
your labor, and you will succeed. 
This great commercial city of New 
Orleans is an example. Her citizens 
have been and are doing their duty. 
They believe in New Orleans; they 
talk for New. Orleans! they work for 
New Orleans; they spend their money 
for New Orleans! They know the 
value of such action. It means suc- 
cess for New Orleans, and from and 
out of that success will flow not only 
indirect, but direct benefits to the in- 
dividual. The Southern country is 
fairly teeming with eligible localities, 
and if the citizens continue to per- 
form their duty, they will eventually 
be successful. There are numerous 
places in the South, growing monu- 
ments to the skill, enterprise and 
progressive citizenship of the people. 
While we have succeeded, are grow- 
ing, and will continue to grow, we 
can accomplish much more than we 
are doing, if the people will only 
heed the suggestions this address is 
intended to convey. New places will 
be established, and will grow into 
importance and wealth. Some of the 



48 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



points already started will not 
amount to much more, unless their 
citizens awake from that lethgaric 
state and imbibe some of the spirit 
of public enterprise, so essential to 
commercial and industrial expansion. 
"Let us take hold of these questions 
with that spirit of activity they are 
worthy of. When we return to our 
respective homes, make a list of the 
citizens who are not doing their duty, 
and see if some plan is not availa- 
ble, through which they can be made 
to see that they are under obligation 
to lend their financial and moral sup- 
port to public questions and move- 
ments. I believe one of Calvin's doc- 
trines was, 'A soul once regenerated 
and converted is not ultimately lost.' 
A citizen who has arbitrarily op- 
posed, or failed to participate in. 
the advancement of his place, when 
once converted to a full knowledge 
of his duty, is generally found to 
be the strongest and ablest supporter 
of all projects which tend to advance 
the best interests of the public. 

"The progressive citizens who are 
doing their duty, and are continually 
encountering stumbling blocks sup- 
ported by their non-enterprising 
neighbors, have my sympathy. May 
a revolution arise in the minds of 
their people who have been the 'hold 
backs' in the development of their 
section, and cause them to realize 
their mistake. The effect will be 
beneficial to the town in which they 
live; the section will be profited 
thereby; the State and entire South 
will be speedily pushed forward 
along lines of intelligent and aggres- 
sive development. 

"When the citizens all do their 
duty, there will be infused a livelier 
spirit into all matters of industrial 
development; the South will earlier 
reach that position which she is so 
peculiarly adapted to fill— the peer of 
all sections of the world in agricul- 
ture, commerce and manufacturing. 
I leave with you this suggestion: 
Don't allow your energy and enter- 
prise to be weakened by any con- 
siderations. Your influence is far 
reaching, the range for the talent 
and enterprise of the citizen who 
does his duty is large in the South. 

"It is unfortunate that prominent 
personages in a community some- 
times utterly fail to realize that they 



are important factors in the failure 
of desired results being accom- 
plished, and it is my earnest hope 
that this important consideration 
may reach their understanding, and 
that they may consider its impor- 
tance. If there is any doubt about 
their attitude in all well established, 
worthy, authenticated projects, which 
are intended to prove of real value, 
it is hoped they will afford the pend- 
ing enterprise sufficient attention to* 
secure the views of broad-gauged, 
liberal-minded and experienced au- 
thorities. 

■ "It was my privilege to visit a cer- 
tain county in the South, into which: 
there was practically no movement 
of people or capital. I found the 
citizens of one of the most impor- 
tant towns in the county quite dis- 
couraged with their prospect; the 
farmers thereabouts found no en- 
couragement from any source. That 
people imagined that any section: 
was superior to the one in which 
they resided. No perceptible in- 
crease could be shown when the cen- 
sus enumerator brought down his 
totals. One man was found, who» 
possessed the belief that the town; 
and county possessed merit, and was 
therefore susceptible of development;: 
he lacked money, but held in stock 
enterprise and hope. Alone and un- 
supportd by the local people, he be- 
gan agitating development; outside 
people were solicited to come andl 
see; they came, the local people' 
phophesied failure and abandonment 
of the work. That man was made- 
out of the proper material, he pushed 
forward, received consolation from 
outside sources, kept up the advocacy 
of the merits of his beloved county,, 
until finally the long cherished ef- 
fect of his missionary work was real- 
ized. The local people who so thor- 
oughly and honestly believed he was 
laboring entirely in vain, finally real- 
. ized that their predictions were 
false. They then easily believed that 
'their town was the best town in all 
that county ; ' they took courage and 
supported their new faith with labor 
and capital. Result: Stores were 
improved, factories built, schools en- 
larged, banking capital increased, 
public roads bettered, and to-day that 
county is the Mecca for many at 
homeseeker and investor. That, gen- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



49 



tlemen of this Convention, is the 
testimony furnished in support of 
the effect one citizen, performing his 
duty, can have upon his skeptical 
neighbors. The duty of the ener- 
getic citizen is to be perseverant, 
honest and tactful. When the citizen 
who has lived to protect and ad- 
vance not only his own interest, but 
also to promote the upbuilding of 
those around him, he will have 
builded a monument which will per- 
petuate his memory, and influence 
the generations that follow. 

"Gentlemen, my home is' at tne 
other end of the line. I am at the 
.gateway between the East and the 
South. I go back to my office to con- 
tinue along, as far as possible, prac- 



tical lines educating the outside 
world to a full realization of the 
fact that the South is the most in- 
viting field for people and capital. I 
have the honor to represent an in- 
terest whose success is dependent 
upon your success. I convey to you 
the assurance that we are endeavor- 
ing to do our duty, and the promise 
that we will persistently continue to 
assist the citizens of the vast terri- 
tory we represent in the proper de- 
velopment of the country. We believe 
the people of the South will do their 
duty. When we all are through, it 
can well be said: 'They have done 
their duties as citizens.' (Ap- 

plause.) 



LETTERS EEAD. 



Secretary Thompson: I have re- 
ceived the following letters from the 
New Orleans Cotton Exchange and 
the New Orleans Board of Trade: 
New Orleans Cotton Exchange. 
New Orleans, Dec. 4th, 1900. 
To the President of the Southern In- 
dustrial Convention: 
:Sir: 

Will you not kindly extend to the 
delegates to the Southern Industrial 
Convention the freedom of the rooms 
of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange 
•during their stay in our city? 
Very truly yours, 

JNO. M. PARKER, 
President. 
New Orleans Board of Trade, Ltd. 

New Orleans, Dec. 4th, 1900. 
'To the President of the Southern In- 



dustrial Convention, City: 
Dear Sir: 

It gives me great pleasure, through 
you, to extend to the officers and 
members of the Southern Industrial 
Convention, now in session in this 
city, an invitation to visit the New 
Orleans Board of Trade at any time 
it may suit their convenience. 

Kindly announce this to the Con- 
vention. 

The badges they wear will not only 
secure admittance to the floor of our 
Board, but will also be a guarantee 
of a cordial welcome. 
Very respectfully, 

UDOLPHO WOLFE, 
President. 

Announcements of meeting of com- 
mittees was then made. 



NIGHT SESSIOX. 



President Hargrove called the Con- 
vention to order at 8 P. M., and on 
request, Hon. John P. Coffin, of Flor- 
ida, took the chair. 

Secretary Thompson read the fol- 
lowing telegram which he had just 
Teceived: 



San Diego, Cal., Dec. 4, 1900. 
The San Diego Chamber of Com- 
merce sends greetings and expresses 
the earnest hope that you will take 
a strong position favoring immediate 
action on Nicaraguan Canal Bill. 
H. P. WOOD, 
Secretary. 



THE NICARAGUA CANAL. 



BY HON. C. L. LAVRETTA. 



Acting Chairman John P. Coffin: 
"The subject of the Nicaraguan Canal, 



which will be discusesd to-night, is 
one which vitally affects the South- 



50 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



ern States, and one of the most im- 
portant and interesting questions 
which will come before this Conven- 
tion. I will now introduce to you as 
me opening speaker, ex-Mayor C. L. 
Lavretta of Mobile, Alabama, a gen- 
tleman who has done so much for 
the civic administration of his city. 

Ex-Mayor C. L. Lavretta of Mobile 
spoke as follows: 

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the 
Southern Industrial Convention: I 
am sorry that it was not possible for 
Mayor Carter Harrison to be here and 
address you to-night on this impor- 
tant subject, in regard to which I 
have had but short notice and can 
therefore simply make a few intro- 
ductory remarks. 

"I desire to thank the appointing 
committee for the honor conferred by 
them in selecting me to introduce the 
Great Nicaragua Canal proposition. 
"As I take it, the duty imposed 
consists in my merely presenting the 
subject so as to have it properly 
brought up for consideration before 
this Southern Industrial Convention. 
The building of the Nicaragua Ca- 
nal will surely revolutionize the en- 
tire commerce of the world and di- 
vert the trade of Western Europe 
through the Gulf of Mexico and the 
Caribbean Sea — it will make the Gulf 
of Mexico the Mediterranean of this 
Western Hemisphere. To quote 
from Commodore Maury, who proba- 
bly knew more than any man of his 
time as regards the subject of open- 
ing a passage for ships across the 
American Isthmus, and its benefits 
to the United States and the world, 
he said: 'It is the mightiest event 
in favor of the peaceful intercourse 
of nations winch the physical circum- 
stances of the globe present to the 
enterprise of man.' 

The well-known civil engineer, 
John Jay Williams, who surveyed the 
Tehauntepec route, which, in its day, 
was the shortest of all Isthmian 
routes between Europe and Asia, re- 
ported that the summit was about 
five miles long, seven hundred and 
thirty feet high, and required one 
hundred and twenty locks, therefore 
capitalists would not venture their 
money in it. Tehauntepec was the 
shortest, but an impracticable route, 
thus leaving the Nicaragua the short- 
est of all Isthmian routes. This ca- 



nal would make our nation the trade 
center between Europe and Asia. 

Facts and figures, however, appeal 
more to the brain of man than mere 
figures of speech. I desire to give a 
few of the principal parts of the 
world that will have an impetus 
■ given to their commercial and manu- 
facturing energies. Mr. John Jay 
Williams has prepared a chart of the 
world and the distances between 
given points: 

The distance from New York to 
Yokohama via Cape Horn is 21,500 
miles, via Suez Canal 15,530 miles, 
via Nicaragua Canal 10,100 miles. 
The distance from New York to 
Snanghai via Capt Horn is 22,000 
miles, via Suez Canal 14,500 miles, 
via Nicaragua Canal 11,600 miles. 
The distance from New York to Sid- 
ney via Capt Horn is 12,720 miles,, 
via Suez Canal 11,230 miles, via Nic- 
aragua Canal 9,890 miles. The dis- 
tance from New York to Canton via. 
Cape Horn is 22,000 miles, via Suez 
Canal 15.000 miles, via Nicaragua 
Canal 10,900 miles. The distance- 
from San Francisco to New York via 
Cape Horn 18,500 miles, via Nicara- 
gua 4,690 miles. 

It is therefore seen that the build- 
ing of this canal saves New York 
over the shortest route in operation: 
5430 miles to Yokohama, 3900 miles 
to Shanghai, 1340 miles to Sidney, 
4100 miles to Canton, 13,810 miles to 
San Francisco. 

Now the distance from Liverpool: 
to San Francisco via Cape Horn is 
18,800, via Nicaragua S,280, or a sav- 
ing of 10.520 miles. 

To-day New York is but three hun- 
dred miles closer to San Francisco 
than Liverpool, whereas the comple- 
tion of the Canal will put New York- 
three thousand two hundred and 
ninety miles closer than Liverpool, to 
San Francisco. 

What will this not do for the up- 
building of our shipping, our iron, 
mineral, agricultural and manufac- 
turing industries, for in the same or 
even a greater degree relatively will 
distances be reduced between our 
Gulf ports and other points, for New 
Orleans, which at present is via Cape 
Horn 18,340 miles distant from San 
Francisco, or only 160 miles closer 
than New York, will by the building" 
of the canal be distant from San 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, igoo. 



51 



Francisco only 3560 miles, making 
New Orleans 1.130 miles closer than 
New York to that port. 

This canal would open the mouths 
of all our rivers flowing to the Gulf 
of Mexico into that world of waters, 
the Pacific Ocean. Who is there that 
can predict the untold wealth that 
will accrue to not only New Orleans, 
but as well to every other Gulf port. 
In making the comparisons above I 
have taken New York on the Atlantic 
Ocean, New Orleans on the Gulf of 
Mexico and San Francisco on the 
Pacific Ocean, because what holds 
good for New York also will for the 
other Atlantic ports, what is true 
for New Orleans is equally so as re- 
gards other Gulf ports, what is ben- 
eficial for San Francisco is as much 
so for every port upon the Pacific 
Ocean. There cannot, shall not, be 
South, North, East or West, in this 
work; it will be the work of a whole 
"and re-united country. 

Without going into the merits or 



demerits of the Hay-Pauncefote pro- 
posals regarding this canal, I con- 
sider that this American Continent 
is for Americans, and they should not 
only build and equip, but should con- 
trol it without the interference of any 
other nation. (Applause.) To op- 
pose this measure is to be a toiler in. 
the work of building a Chinese Wall 
around these great United States, to 
keep the caravans of progress from 
entering our midst, to dump their 
loads of wealth into our laps for gen- 
erations to come. 

My fondest hope, most earnest wish 
is, that the grand old man, of Ala- 
bama. Hon. Jno. T. Morgan, will 
have his exalted ambition gratified 
by seeing the Nicaragua Canal com- 
pleted in his lifetime, and then more 
than ever he can realize that his is 

"A lofty name, 
A beacon light, a land-mark, on the? 
cliffs of fame." 
(Applause.) 



- THE NICARAGUA CANAL. 



BY HON. W. A. HEMPHILL. 



Chairman Coffin: ^Gentlemen, you 
heard to-'day from the eloquent Gen. 
John B. Gordon the story of Georgia. 
Atlanta is the capital city of Georgia 
and claims to be the most progressive 
city in the South. Atlanta claims 
that she has within her limits the 
most progressive newspaper in the 
South, the Atlanta Constitution. 
Without going into the merits of this 
claim of which you can all judge, I 
wish to introduce as the next speaker 
to-night Mr. W. A. Hemphill, the man 
who made the 'Constitution.' ' 

Mr. W. A. Hemphill spoke as fol- 
lows: 

"Mr. Chairman, none regret more 
than I do that Mayor Carter Harrison 
is not here to address you, but you 
have been entertained and instructed 
by the gentleman who has just now 
preceded me. Sir, I- thank you for the 
compliment you have paid to 
the Atlanta Constitution. One of the 
proudest events of my life was when 
a hoy of eighteen I left school and 
v/ent to Virginia to fight the battles 
of my country under the 'Stars and 



Bars' with the great General Robert 
E. Lee. 

"I had the honor, also of fighting 
side by side in many of the great 
battles of Northern Virginia with 
the Washington Artillery of your 
city. (Applause.) 

Another of the happy events of my 
life is to-night in this great Indus- 
trial Convention being under the 
Banner suspended over us, 'Business, 
no Politics, no Sectionalism.' 

I was not particularly brave, but 
where the guns flashed lightning, 
and the bullets whistled I was there 
in the midst. General Gordon if he 
were. here, would attest to this fact. 
So, in this contest I want to be in 
the fore-front. When cotton mills 
are built, rivers and harbors deep- 
ened and enlarged, sugar mills 
erected, canals dug, railroads con- 
structed. I want to be right there, 
and do all in rav power to advance 
the industrial interests, not only of 
rrfv native city; not only of my state; 
not only of my section, but the in- 
dustrial interests of the entire coun- 
try. 



-52 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



Unlike General Gordon, and the 
rgentleman from Arkansas, I have 
mever been in politics, but I have 
been a business man all of my life, 
S3b I cio not have to reform. 



The best speech that I can make 
to-night is to call for three cheers 
for that patriot and grand statesman 
Senator Jno. T. Morgan of Alabama, 
who has been in the fore-front these 




HON. W. A. HEMPHILL. 



-many years fighting for the Nicara- 
gua Canal. 

Reforms and great movements are 
Drought on by wars and shedding of 
Wood; I could give many instances, 



I will relate only one: Our fore- 
fathers in 1776 gained their independ- 
ence, and established this great coun- 
try by suffering and bloody contests; 
the Spanish-American War is no ex- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-y, ipoo. 



5£ 



ception. Great results have come 
from it, no one dreamed of them. 
One of the results is, that it has 
united this country, the men from the 
North, and the men from the South, 
have fought side by side at Santia- 
go, they are fighting side by side to- 
day under the Stars and Stripes in 
the Philippines. 

Another result is, it gave us a 
standing with the world's powers, 
another it placed us commercially in 
the front rank of nations, 500,000,- 
000 more exports than imports an- 
nually tells the story, ' 

Great. Britain and Russia, which 
have been considered the financial 
leaders of the world, came to our 
financial centers to place bonds and 
get loans. 

This war has proven to us the im- 
mediate and great necessity of build- 
ing the Nicaragua Canal; I will treat 
in a few words this subject from two 
stand points, the military and the 
commercial; I will not speak of the 
feasibility of it, nor will I tell of 
the difficulties of the construction of 
it, nor will I relate its costs. I want 
to say that it makes no difference 
what the costs are it is an enter- 
prise that is well worth the expendi- 
ture. I hold in my hands a copy of 
the President's message; I have only 
read what he says about the Isth- 
mian canal, I am sorry that he did 
not come out in emphatic terms in 
favor of it; here is what he says in 
the conclusion: "I commend the 
early attention of the Senate to the 
convention with Great Britain to fa- 
cilitate the construction of such -a 
canal and to remove any objection 
which might arise out of the con- 
vention commonly called the Clay- 
ton-B.ulwer treaty." 

I believe that the United States 
ought to build this canal and con- 
trol it independent of any other na- 
tion on earth. 

Now, as to the military necessity; 
the good battleship Oregon demon- 
strated this to the satisfaction of all 
when she left Pugit sound for Key 
"West, sailing 15,000 miles in 69 days; 
all nations watched this great man- 
ouvre with pride and admiration. 
She did reach Santiago in time for 
that great naval battle; she did play 
an important part in deciding that 
splendid victory, but it might have 



been different if one of the Spanish, 
South American nations had opposed, 
her in her great journey and delayed, 
her coming. 

If the Nicaragua Canal had been, 
built she could have made the 
voyage in 16 days, and saved three- 
fourths of the time and distance. 
With this canal built one strong navy 
will be able to defend our entire sea 
coast, but enough of this; it is too 
plain to all. 

Now, as to the advantage commer- 
cially; it would take hours to tell 
the whole story. Commodore Maury 
said 50 years ago, "The commerce of 
the world would center in the Gulf 
of Mexico." With all other things 
equal, commerce will seek that na- 
tion which is nearest. 

From Columbus to the present. 
day, a period of 506 years, the way 
to construct a passage across the- 
narrow neck of the Americas has 
been talked of and contemplated; 
five millions of private money has. 
been spent on Nicaragua, and three 
hundred million on Panama. 

Now as to the advantages in dis- 
tance: 

New York to San Francisco via- 
Cape Horn 14,840, via canal 4,i>46; 
distance saved 9,894. 

New York to Hong Kong via Cape- 
Horn 18,180, via canal 11,038, via. 
Good Hope 15.261; distance saved' 
4,162 miles over via Good Hope,. 
7,142 over Cape Horn. 

New York to Yokohama via Cape- 
Horn 17,679, via canal 9,363, via Good' 
Hope 16,190; distance 6,837 miles- 
over via Good Hope, 8,316 over Cape 
Horn. 

This places us thousands of miles 
nearer the millions of the yellow 
races, the people who wear our cot- 
ton goods. Bishop Hendricks, who has- 
traveled extensively in the East, 
told me that if these people spent 
only 20 cents apiece for cotton goods- 
it would take the entire present pro- 
duction of the cotton mills. 

New Orleans to San Francisco via 
Cape Horn 15,052. via canal 4,047; 
distance saved 11,005 miles. 

New Orleans to Guyakil via Cape- 
Horn 11,683, via canal 2.340; dis- 
tance saved 5,975 miles. 

New Orleans to Calao via Cape 
Horn 10.901, via canal 2,988; distance: 
saved 7,913 miles. 



•54 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



New Orleans to Valparaiso via 
■Cape Horn 9,962, via canal 3,987; dis- 
tance saved 5, 975 miles. 

The trade of these countries now 
goes to Europe, mainly to Liverpool; 
this trade would come here if the 
canal was built being so much nearer. 

The distance from San Francisco to 
.Liverpool is- 15,000 miles via Cape 
Horn, 8,000 by the canal, 7,000 miles 
saved. 

It takes a cargo of wheat from San 
Francisco to the ports of Europe 
130 days around Cape Horn, it would 
take only 35 days of a good steamer 
through the Nicaragua canal. I 
could go on ad infinitum presenting 
facts and figures showing the advan- 
tages that would come to this coun- 
try, not only the South, but the 
North and the great West; the Span- 
ish-American War has given us con- 
trol of Cuba, and the possession of 
Porto Rico, and a nation of 10,000,000 
people and territory in the far East. 

The Nicaragua Canal will be the 
direct and shortest connection with 
all these countries. The full advan- 
tage will never be realized until the 
-canal is built and finished. 

Since I came into this house to- 
night I have been reading a news- 
paper which has in it hot from 
Washington, news about the Nicara- 
guan canal. The Isthmian Canal 
Commission submits its report and I 
would like to read you two or three 
-extracts from this report as it was 
laid before Congress. "Washington, 
Dec. 4th— The report of the Isthmian 
Canal" Commission submitted by the 
President to Congress to-day gives 
as the unanimous conclusion of that 
body that the most practicable and 
feasible route for au Isthmian Canal 
under the control, management and 
ownership of the United States is 
that known as the Nicaraguan 
route." Referring to the commercial 
■advantages of an Isthmian waterway 
the report says: 

"As compared with Europe the 
United States will derive from the 
canal far more benefits, both com- 
mercially and industrially. The com- 
merce of Europe with the Pacific 
coast of North, Central and South 
America, under existing conditions, 
is somewhat larger than the total 
wolume of the present traffic of the 
United States that may be consid- 



ered tributary to the canal; but this 
fact does not indicate the relative 
advantages which the canal will pos- 
sess for the trade of Europe, and 
that of the United States. As soon 
as it has been opened, our trade with 
• the west coast of South America wm 
rapidly increase, as well as the vol- 
ume of our trade with the Orient. 
The amount of the American com- 
merce through the canal will quickly 
surpass the total amount of Euro- 
pean traffic. 

"An isthmian canal will strengthen 
the unity of the national and, political 
interests of the United States, de- 
velop its Pacific territory and pro- 
mote the commerce and industries of 
the entire country. The benefits 
which Europe would derive from the 
canal will be commercial. In addi- 
tion to this ours will be political and 
industrial. By bringing the Eastern 
and Western sections of our country 
into closer relations, by reducing the 
time and cost of transporting our 
western products to Europe and by 
enabling the Eastern, Southern and 
central States to reach the raw ma- 
terials and markets of Pacific coun- 
tries cheaply and expeditiously, the 
canal will more fully identify poli- 
tical and social interests and quicken 
the industrial activity of every sec- 
tion of the United States. The iron 
and steel, the textiles and the other 
manufactures of the Eastern and 
Southern States, the coal from the 
mining regions, the cotton from the 
South, and the grain and forest pro- 
ducts from many sections will flow 
out to foreign countries in an in- 
creasing volume and this larger 
'trade will be shared generally by the 
ports of all cur seaboards — the Atlan- 
tic, the Gulf and the Pacific." 

The South in the great game for 
wealth .has three kings; cotton, iron, 
and coal, backed by two queens, lum- 
ber and sugar, a full hand, which ia 
a hand hard to beat — the chairman 
of the Georgia delegation says the 
only thing that will beat it is four 
of a kind. We think our eyes have 
been opened, we imagine we see evi- 
dences of prosperity: if this canal- 
is constructed it 'Hath not entered 
the mind of man' the glorious bene- 
fits that will come to our people. 
On every hill, and in every valley, 
smcke will ascend from the cotton 



Held in New Orleans, D 



cccmbcr 4-/, 1900. 



00 



mills and furnaces, the roar of ma- 
chinery will be heard everywhere. 
O.or people will be rich and happy. 
New Orleans will have a million of 
people. In the harbors of Galveston, 
Mobile, Savannah. Brunswick, and 
Charleston, will float the vessels of 



every nation. Our flag, the glorious 
stars and stripes will be respected 
and loved in every land. The day is 
coming, if not already here, when 
the proudest exclamation that mortal 
man can make is to say, "I am an 
American." (Loud applause.) 



THE NICARAGUA CAXAL. 



BY HON. SIDNEY STORY. 



Chairman Coffin: I will now intro- 
duce to you a gentleman wnom you 
well know, a gentleman who has 

given much thought and considera- 



tion to the subject of the Nicaragua, 
Canal, the Hon. Sidney Story, of. 
New Orleans. (Applause.) 




HON. SIDNEY STORY. 



Hon. Sidney Story spoke as fol- 
lows: 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentle- 
men, and Delegates to the Southern 
Industrial Convention: 

Is is with unfeigned pleasure and 
equal pride that I stand before this 
splendid gathering of representa- 
tive men, this great Industrial Con- 
vention, to discuss with you one of 
the supreme topics of the day. the 
construction of the Nicaragua Canal. 

The discussions of this imposing 



convention will have a far reaching 
effect upon the commercial activi- 
ties and energies of our common 
country and the elucidation of the 
unrivalled advantages, both natural 
and those being now developed by 
the ambitious and stirring popula- 
tion of the Southern States, will be 
seed sown in fruitful soil, to germ- 
inate in a vast number of lucrative 
enterprises. 

Intent on obtaining all the know- 
ledge possible as to those commer- 



56 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



•cial and trade conditions, needed for 
•an advanced national prosperity, and 
•desirous to aid in the tremendous 
movement of development now per- 
ceptible throughout these prolific 
.States of the South, your industrial 
convention has a grand mission be- 
fore it, one which the ability and pa- 
triotic earnestness of its members 
will wiseJy and well accomplish. 

Among the topics of palpitating 
interest, which are before you, none 
can claim a greater national impor- 
tance than that of the Nicaragua 
Canal For more than a century this 
■question has been before the Amerci- 
can people. Its agitation dates back 
as far as 1797, but never assumed 
•any definite shape until the admin- 
istration of Zachary Taylor. At 
that time California was ceded to the 
United States by Mexico and the 
statesmanship of that period was not 
long in determining that with an ex- 
tended coast line on the Pacific 
"Ocean, an isthmian passage was an 
imperative necessity. 

Half a century has elapsed and we 
are only on the threshold of the ac- 
complishment of this great achieve- 
ment. There are two causes that 
have operated to thwart, delay and 
■prevent the materialization of this 
great project, one of the greatest 
that the world has ever conceived, 
and the accomplishment of which 
the entire world stands ready to ac- 
claim with blessings, for it will inau- 
gurate a new era in the history of 
mankind, and these two causes are 
the crafty opposition of Great Brit- 
ain and the misguided antagonism of 
the American Trans-Continental 
railroads. To stand in the pathway 
of the world's commerce and to check 
the tide of civilization and progress 
is a serious charge. Turn the cal- 
cium light of history upon the first 
and apply common' sense reasoning 
and logic to the second and the in- 
dictment is sustained. 

The study of the Clayton-Bulwer 
Treaty reveals the fact that no later 
than six days after the cession by 
Mexico, of California to the United 
States. Great Britain forcibly took 
possession of the mouth of the San 
Juan river, the Atlantic terminus of 
a canal via the Nicaragua route. 
This action lead to the long diplo- 
matic wrangle, which came very near 



resulting in war between the two 
countries and which resulted in the 
forming of the Clayton-Bulwer 
treaty, recently abrogated by the sub- 
stitution of the Hay-Pauncefote in- 
strument. 

But the people of America have 
come to the determined conclusion 
that treaty or no treaty the Nicara- 
gua canal must be built, built with 
American money, by American skill 
and ingenuity and controlled in peace 
or war by the United States. ( Ap- 
plause.!) 

No European nation will be asked 
for its gracious consent. We are 
able to guarantee its neutrality and 
impartiality in time of peace and 
if this country ever becomes involved 
in war with any power you may rest 
. assured America will not throw it 
open to her enemies. The diplomatic 
intrigues of England, who is keenly 
alive to the menace which a short 
open sea route, under American con- 
trol, would be to her commercial su- 
premacy on the high seas, will no 
longer delude the American peo- 
ple. (Applause.) 

The other most potent opposition 
to the enterprise has been from the 
representatives of great capital, in- 
vested in Trans-Continental rail- 
roads, who have strenuously fought 
the building of the Nicaragua Canal, 
under the belief, one entirely erron- 
eous, that great loss and injury 
would be inflicted on their interests 
by the construction of a short water 
route between the two oceans. That 
this has been a mistaken conception 
is now being realized as the very sag- 
acious expression of opinion, recently 
given out by President Stuyvesant 
Fish of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
on canal building, conclusively dem- 
onstrates. 

Mr. Fish is on record as strongly 
supporting the construction of short 
water routes, as being beneficial to 
railroads, instead of operating injur- 
iously on their interests, canals aid 
materially in building up sections 
and increasing the productive capac- 
ity of populations and thus they add 
to the freight and passage traflic of 
adjacent railroads, as was proven 
to be the case by the operation of the 
Sault St. Marie canal, and others 
which connecting with the Great 
Lakes have increased prodigiously 



Held 



Nczv Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



the railroad traffic. It is now real- 
ized that the Nicaragua canal will 
operate as an immense benefit and 
not as an injury to the Trans-Con- 
tinental railroads. 

The Pacific coast is a great empire 
capable of supporting one hundred 
millions of people. Its soil and cli- 
mate are admirable. Yet from San 
Diego to the line of British Columbia 
in the north and back to the tower- 
ing Rockies, the population is still 
sparce and scattered, for the reason 
that there has not been sufficient 
profit in agriculture or other pur- 
suits to attract sufficient settlers to 
build up the country. 

It was anticipated that the great 
gold discoveries of 1849 would dense- 
ly populate all that vast region, but 
communications have been too dif- 
ficult, up to the present time, for any 
general expansion. With the open- 
ing of the Nicaragua canal, a mighty 
change will be effected. The Paci- 
fic coast will undergo an immense 
and rapid transformation and the 
increase of population, the springing 
up of the seaports, for the vast Ori- 
ental trade between the United 
States, China, Japan and those other 
countries of the Pacific, which will 
ensue, the industrial life to be 
brought into being as a natural con- 
sequence, will all serve as the fac- 
tors for an enormous increase in the 
business of the railroads. The An- 
nual reports of several trans-contin- 
ental railroads show that their 
through business is less than ten per 
cent of the entire business of the 
roads, and that their profits are 
made on short haul and not on 
freight carried from ocean to ocean. 
This has been the admirable and 
broad conception of the benefits to 
railroads of canal building by that 
very able railroad magnate Stuyve- 
sant Fish, as explained in his recent 
utterances. 

The Pacific States, writes Mr. War- 
ner Mirer, in an article in the Forum, 
produce chiefly raw material, such 
as agricultural products, lumber and 
minerals. They ship annually one 
million tons of wheat to Europe, and 
there compete with Russia, Argen- 
tina and India, all of which countries 
can put their wheat into Europe in 
less than one-fourth of the time re- 
quired for a trip from San Francisco 



to Liverpool via the Horn, thereby- 
coming into market first, after har- 
vest and saving largely in the cost, 
of transportation, insurance and in- 
terest on capital invested. But for 
the wonderful productiveness of the 
Pacific coast wheat fields, they would 
be absolutely unable to compete with 
the countries mentioned. The lum- 
ber trade from the forests of Oregon 
and Washington, finds to-day an al- 
together insufficient market in Japan, 
Australia and the west coast of 
South America. The depletion of the 
white pine forest in the Central West 
will soon create a great market in 
the East for that of the Pacific States,. 
when the canal will be built and the 
cost of transportation will leave a 
fair profit to the producer. 

The distance from New York to- 
San Francisco by Cape Horn is 15,- 
660 miles. By the Nicaragua route i.t 
will be 4,907 miles, a saving of 10.- 
753 miles. The usual time for a sail- 
ing vessel to make this voyage is 
one hundred and twenty days. A 
modern freight steamer would make- 
it in twenty days or less through the 
canal. This fact alone would be a 
sufficient reason for the construction 
of the canal, if no other benefit were' 
to be derived from it, as the canal 
would undoubtedly create between 
the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of 
the United States a great commerce 1 
which, unfortunately, does not ex- 
ist to-day. 

The opening of the Suez canal in 
1870 gave to European commerce a 
great advantage over the United 
States in the trade of the Orient by- 
lessening considerably the time and 
cost of transportation from European 
ports to India, China and Japan, 
while increasing at the same time the- 
disadvantage of distance under which 
we labored before that canal was- 
constructed, when the route for both 
European and American commerce- 
was via Cape of Good Hope. For 
example, previous to the opening of 
the Suez canal, the sailing distance' 
from Liverpool to Shanghai was 13.- 
650 miles, and from New York to 
Shanghai 14,340 miles: a difference of 
690 miles in favor of Liverpool. The 
building of the Suez canal made the 
distance from Liverpool to Shanghai 
10.330 mile?, and from New York to 
Shanghai 12,360 miles; thus saving 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention 



3,320 miles for Liverpool and only 
1,980 miles for New York. In other 
words, the advantage of Liverpool 
over New York was increased from 
€90 to 2,030 miles. Taking the aver- 
age speed of a freight steamer at 
200 miles a day, this gives European 
ports an advantage over American 
ports, through the Suez canal, of 
nearly seven days, plus the additional 
expense thereby resulting to the 
American merchant. 

Profiting by the great advantage, 
England has her merchant marine 
engaged in the trade of the Orient. 
In 1870 the number of vessels passing 
through the Suez canal were 488. 
In 1888 they had increased to 2,- 
.283. In 1896 to 3,409. The English 
vessels using the canal in 1888 were 
547, in 1896 they were 2,162, out of 
a tetal of 3,409, and of this traffic 
only five were American. Indeed we 
bad paid little heed to the disadvan- 
tages that American commerce is 
under in the East, exporting mostly 
food and agricultural products to 
Europe. But the manufacturing in- 
dustries of this country have in- 
creased enormously and the present 
•development of the vast coal and iron 
regions of the South promises still 
greater expansion in the near future 
of the product of American mills and 
looms, for cheap fuel is the stimulus 
of manufacture. 

Profitable markets in foreign 
lands are therefore a necessity ior 
the rapid growth of this country, and 
nowhere will we find them more 
abundant than in the Pacific. Com- 
peting there with England, Germany 
and France, we must find a shorter 
and cheaper route to the markets of 
the Orient than their's through the 
Suez canal, which can only be done 
by the construction of the Nicaragua 
route. 

Then all the ports of the Atlantic 
cost of the United States will be 
nearer to Japan and the Eastern 
coast of China, and to the numberless 
islands of the Pacific, than Liverpool 
or any European continental city 
or country. To-day American com- 
merce labors under the tremendous 
disadvantages of 2,030 miles to 
Shanghai, as compared with that of 
Liverpool, a difference of seven days 
navigation by steam. By the Nicar- 
agua canal route an advantage of 



118 miles will belong to us. From 
Liverpool to Yokohama, by the Suez 
canal route is 11,030 miles. From 
New York to Yokomaha, by the Nic- 
aragua route it will only be 9,227 
miles, while from the seaport of the 
South American and Gulf states, it 
will be immensely less. This differ- 
ence is sufficient to give American 
commerce substantial control of the 
trade with Japan and of all the ports 
and countries of the Orient. More 
than seven hundred millions of peo- 
ple life in countries bordering on the 
Pacific Ocean, and the time has come 
in spite of recent difficulties, when 
China, with its teeming populations, 
is to be fully opened to the commerce 
of the world. (Applause.) 

It has been demonstrated how the 
Pacific States will develope by rea- 
son of the Nicaragua canai and how 
the trade and industrial life of New 
York and the Eastern Atlantic States 
will likewise draw immense commer- 
cial advantages from the opening of 
that short all-water route, while 
from a military standpoint, 'and be- 
cause it will be the key of the Pacific 
it is an absolute and most imperious 
necessity, as recent events, have 
proven and as the perilous trip of 
the Oregon around Cape Horn dem- 
onstrated. It is of keen interest to 
see how its construction will effect 
the commercial life and .develop- 
ment of the Southern States, those 
on the Atlantic seaboard and those 
of the Gulf. Lying comparatively 
close to the canal, all the cities of 
the Atlantic seaboard, Baltimore, 
Newport News, Charleston and" Sav- 
annah, will expand into important 
sea ports, while New Orleans, 700 
miles nearer the eastern terminus oi 
the canal than New York and the 
Gulf coast cities, will control untold 
advantages. 

The great staple of the South is 
cotton, and the enormous develop- 
ment of the cotton milling industry 
in the South, of recent years, dem- 
onstrates beyond peradventure that 
within the radius of the cotton belt 
region will eventually locate the 
b<ilk of the cotton manufacturing of 
this country. This is the logical se- 
quence of events, for the South pos- 
sesses those advantages which make 
successful manufacture, close prox- 
imity to the raw material, cheap fuel, 



Held in Ntw Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



59 



■water power and abundance of con- 
tented labor and a suitable climate. 

The question of finding profitable 
^markets for American cotton goods 
is one of supreme moment. It is 
right here that the Nicaragua canal 
opens up possibilities so vast and so 
alluring that the mind pauses almost 
staggered before their contemplation. 
The development of the resources 
of the United States, writes that able 
Chinese diplomatist, Hon. Wu Ting 
Fang, in a recent article, by the use 
of machinery and by the combination 
of capital, has now reached a crucial 
period. The productive power of the 
country increases faster than Its 
capacity for consumption, and the 
demand of a population of 75,000,000 
is no sooner felt than supplied. There 
is constant danger of over produc- 
tion under these circumstances, it is 
imperative for the producer and man- 
ufacturer of the United States to find 
an outlet for their products and 
goods in foreign markets. Whither 
shall they turn? On the other side 
of the Pacific lies the vast Empire of 
China, which in extent of territory 
and diversity of papulation, exceeds 
the whole of Europe. The province 
of Szechuen can muster more able- 
bodied men than the German Empire. 
The province of Shantung can 
boast of as many native sons as 
France. Scatter all the inhabitants 
of Costa Rica or Nicaragua in Can- 
ton, and they would be lost in the 
city's surging throngs. Transport all 
the people of Chili into China, and 
they will only fill a city of the first 
class. China has her teeming mil- 
lions to feed and clothe. Many of 
these supplies will now come from 
the outside. The share furnished bv 
the United States last year was much 
larger than ever before, but could be 
immensely increased. According to 
the statistics of the American Gov- 
ernment, China in 1899 took Ameri- 
can goods to the value of $14,437,422, 
■of which amount $9,844,565 was paid 
for cotton goods. 

"All the European countries com- 
bined bought only $1,484,363 worth of 
American cotton manufactures dur- 
ing that same period. The amount of 
cotton goods purchased by the Cen- 
tral American States was $737,259. 
By the South American Countries. 
$2,713,967. It thus appears that China 



is the largest purchaser of American 
cotton goods. 

"Cotton cloth has a wide and in- 
creasing range of uses in all parts 
of the vast Chinese Empire, and it is 
almost impossible that the supply 
will ever equal the demand. What is 
true of cotton goods in China is 
equally the case in flourishing and 
progressive Japan and of all the 
tropical countries of the far East, 
teeming with dense population. Some 
conception therefore can be had of 
the magnificent markets which the 
Nicaragua canal will open for the cot- 
ton industry of the country. That 
the American merchant marine will 
acquire a tremendous growth in con- 
sequence none may doubt and will 
be restored to the commanding posi- 
tion it once occupied, and the two 
hundred millions of dollars annually 
paid to foreign bottoms to carry 
American products, will be retained 
in this country to add to our general 
prosperity. Southern iron and coal, 
are also destined to play a mighty 
part in the world's commerce and for 
the iron and great steel industry now 
developing so rapidly in Alabama, 
the Nicaragua canal will open up 
endless routes to successful markets. 
Even now Alabama is shipping pig 
iron and steel to Japan as well as 
to European countries. 

"With the construction of the canal 
now being built, to connect the 
great Birmingham coal and iron dis- 
trict by an all water route, with the 
Gulf and thence through the Nicara- 
gua canal out into the Pacific, South- 
ern iron and steel, cheaply manufac- 
tured, because of an easy command 
of cheap coal, need fear no competi- 
tion in the vast regions of the east- 
ern countries. 

Again, the port of New Orleans, 
already the debauchee of a great and 
growing volume of trade, from the 
northwest, will serve their purpose 
of an unrivaled distributing point for 
their grain and manufactured goods 
to novel markets along the Pacific 
const of the Americas and on the 
continents and islands of the Pacific. 
The return trade which will be 
brought to this country, notably from 
China and Japan, will assume equally 
vast proportions, and it may not be 
doubted that there is no factor in 
the commercial life of the world of 



60 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



such supreme importance as the 
prompt construction of this great 
inter-oceanic route. The grandeur of 
the theme entrusted to me has carried 
me beyond intended limits, perhaps 
beyond the bounds of your patience, 
but I feel very sure that all the mem- 
bers of this great industrial conven- 
tion well know and appreciate what 
a stupendous impress for good will be 
operated upon the industrial devel- 
opment of our great common coun- 
try by the throwing open, to the 
world's trade, of the Nicaragua 
Canal. (Applause.) 

Let the Congress act and speedily, 



and we shall soon feel the flow of: 
a rapidly increasing prosperity pul- 
sating through every channel of" 
trade. It requires no prophetic eye- 
to picture in the years to come the 
world's commerce flowing backward 
and forward through the Nicaragua 
Canal, paying tribute to American 
thrift, skill and enterprise, with the 
American shipping restored to her 
pristine glory and the American Flag; 
kissing the sunshine on every sea 
and carrying liberty and freedom to 
the oppressed and benighted nations 
of the earth." (Loud applause.) 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE Ol\ T NICARAGUA CANAL. 



Chairman Coffin: Gentlemen, we 
will hear the report submitted by 
the committee. 

Mr. Sidney Story: The committee 
on the Nicaragua Canal beg leave to 
make the following report: 

New Orleans, La., Dec. 4th, 1900. 
To the Honorable Senate of the 
United States — Honorable Sena- 
tors: 

We, the delegates to the Southern 
Industrial Convention, from the 
States of Alabama, Arkansas, Cali- 
fornia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, 
Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, 
Missouri, New York, North Carolina, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, 
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wiscon- 
sin, now in session at New Orleans, 
most respectfully ask your honorable 
body to pass the Nicaragua Canal 
Bill, directing our Government to 
construct, own and control the Nicar- 
agua canal. To connect the waters 
of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 
bringing all sections of our common 
country into close connection; and, 
by the great saving in distance in 
navigation to reach the Pacific Ocean 
and our possessions bordering on 
said ocean, as well a« foreign mar- 
kets for our mineral and agricultural 
products. Also to reach the markets 
for our manufactured goods, machin- 
ery, etc. 

In no way can our Congress ben- 
efit our mining, manufacturing and 
agricultural interests in a greater 
degree than by aiding in the cheap- 
ening of the cost of transporting 



their products to the markets they- 
seek for the consumption of the same.. 

The building of this canal is to- 
day the most important factor look- 
ing to the benefit of our producers 
in all branches of industrial pursuits 
in which our American people are- 
engaged. 

We now therefore, in behalf of 
our whole people, believe that the 
representatives of the people in Con- 
gress assembled will legislate in such 
a way as to most effectually aid the 
improvement of the material interest 
of our whole people, North and 
South, East and West. 

On motion, resolved, that the- 
president and secretary of this con- 
vention sign and forward this mem- 
orial to the President of the Senate 
of the United States and request him 
to lay it before the Honorable Body 
over which he presides. 

Dr. Knapp: I move the adoption 
of the report. Seconded by Mr. 
Kelly, of Philadelphia. 

Chairman Coffin: It is moved and' 
seconded that this memorial be 
adopted. I would suggest that the 
convention signify its pleasure by a 
rising vote. 

Carried unanimously. 

Secretary Thompson: I would re- 
au.es t the consent of the convention- 
to send the following telegram: 

<*New Orleans. Dec. 4th, 1900. 
"John T. Morgan, United States Sen- 
ator. Washington, D. C: 
The Southern Industrial Conven- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, iooc\ 



61 



tion, now in session in this city di- 
rects me to send you the warmest 
greetings of this body, the greatest 
of its kind ever asembled on this 
■continent, on the prospect of an early 
crowning with success the years of 
labor you have given to the Nicara- 
gua canal, an enterprise which has 



just received the unanimous indorse- 
ment of this assemblage. 

N. F. THOMPSON, Secretary." 

Tom L. Cannon: I move that the 
telegram is sent through the cour- 
tesy of the Western Union. Seconded 
and carried. 



CITY AND POET OF MOBILE, ALA. 



The following paper, from Col. J. 
C. Clarke, of Mobile, Ala., was in- 
troduced by Hon. C. L. Lavretta: 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: The City 
and Port of Mobile, Alabama, is lo- 
cated thirty miles northwest of the 
Gulf of Mexico, at the head of Mobile 
Bay, and offers great advantages for 
commercial and export trade and as 
a manufacturing point, owing to its 
great facilites for transportation by 
rail and water, both on inland rivers 
and ocean steamers. There are 
three trunk lines of railroad tribu- 
tary to this point, viz: the Mobile & 
Ohio, the Louisville & Nashville, and 
the Southern Railway. There are 
also two shorter local lines. The 
aggregate mileage of all these roads 
is over three thousand miles. The 
trunk lines traverse portions of the 
States of Alabama, Mississippi, 
Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North 
and South Carolina, Virginia and Il- 
linois and at their northern, north- 
western and eastern terminals make 
connections with railroads running 
to all parts of the United States. 

"The Port of Mobile has more than 
two thousand miles of inland river 
navigation, the waters of these rivers 
seeking the ocean via Mobile Bay. 
These rivers are the Alabama, the 
Tombigbee, the Warrior, the Cahaw- 
ba, the Coosa, and their tributaries. 
These rivers penetrate the iron and 
coal fields of northern and central 
Alabama, and portions of Tennessee 
and Georgia. 

"The extensive lumber regions and 
coal and iron deposits of Alabama. 
Mississippi, Georgia, and portions of 
Tennessee and North Carolina are 
tributary to all three of the trunk 
line railroads above mentioned, as 
their main or branch lines all tra- 
verse portions of the States named, 
and now transport a large tonnage of 



coal, lumber, iron and cotton. 

"Within four hundred and fifty 
miles of Mobile are the Warrior, Ca- 
hawba, and Coosa coal fields, the 
nearest mines are within three hun- 
dred miles of tide water, enabling 
coal to be now sold to sea-going 
steamers at less than $2.40 per ton on 
board at Mobile; and when the im- 
provements now being made by the 
United States Government on the 
Warrior river are completed, and 
when the lower Coosa has been im- 
proved by the Government, coal can 
be loaded on barges and floated down 
the river and sold in Mobile at $1.75 
per ton or less. 

The lumber interest tributary to 
our port is simply immense. There 
is being cut over 2,000,000 feet of lum- 
ber per day that finds its way to 
market via Mobile for export to Eu- 
rope, Cuba, the South American, 
countries, British and Spanish Hon- 
duras, the West Indian Islands, Mex- 
ico, Jamaica, and the Islands of the 
Carribean Sea. 

"We now have regular lines of 
steamers running from Mobile to 
Liverpool, transporting cotton, cotton 
seed, meal, iron, lumber, oil, grain, 
flour, and packing house products. 
We also have regular lines of steam- 
ers plying between New York and 
Mobile and also the following points, 
viz: Cuba, Bocas del Toro, in the 
United States of Columbia; Jamaica, 
British and Spanish Honduras, Bel- 
ize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Port Li- 
mon, Costa Rica, etc., and to all the 
fruit ports in South American coun • 
tries and also to Mexico and the is- 
lands of the Carribean sea. Large 
shipments of lumber, merchandise, 
bread stuffs, provisions, packing 
house products, live stock, oil, oil 
cakes, dairy products, hay and ma- 
chinery are now shipped to these 
countries. The trade with them all 



62 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



shows a steady and healthy increase 
each year. 

"Mobile is a healthy city. We 
have pure water, a genial climate, 
(out-door labor can be performed at 
all seasons of the year), good streets, 
cheap lands in close- proximity, 
cheap fuel, low port charges, labor 
at reasonable rates, numerous 
churches, good hotels, four banks, 
and an abundance of hard woods 
nearby. 

"The general surroundings of Mo- 
bile are such as to invite the closest 
investigation of the advantages it of- 
fers as a location for mercantile and 
manufacturing industries and pur- 
suits that will pay a fair return 
on the capital invested. 

"When the Nicaragua Canal is com- 
pleted and open to navigation, Grey- 
town, at the eastern end of the canal, 
will become the greatest coaling 
point on any tide-water either in 
this country or Europe, owing to 
the cheapness of coal and coke for 
steam and foundry purposes, and 



Greytown will be less- than sixteen, 
hundred miles distance from the- 
mines. 

"The Nicaragua Canal must and. 
should be built at an early date by 
our Government, and should be con- 
trolled by it both for national pur- 
poses and as a link of short water- 
communication to cement more close- 
ly and develope the sections now 
forming our common country, East 
and West, North and South." 
(Applause). 

It being now 9:30 P. M. the Con- 
vention adjourned' until 9 A. M. the' 
following morning. 

Before adjournment Mr. Story an- 
nounced that the Local Council of 
Women of New Orleans had ar- 
ranged a trolly ride for the visitors. 

The action of the Convention in 
fixing consideration of the report of 
the committee on permanent organi- 
zation for Thursday afternoon was 
' on motion re-considered and the same 
ordered to be taken up the first thing 
to-morrow morning. 



WEDNESDAY 1TORXIXG SESSIOX. 



December 5th, 1900. 
President Hargrove in the ehair. 

The convention was called to or- 
der at 10 A. M. 

President Hargrove: The proceed- 
ings of the. day will be opened with 
an invocation by his Eminence, Car- 
dinal Gibbons. 

His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons 
invoked the divine blessing on the 
Convention in the following words: 

"We pray Thee, O God, of might, 
wisdom and justice, by whom au- 
thority is administrated, laws are 
enacted and judgments decreed, as- 
sist by Thy Holy Spirit the Presi- 
dent of these Uniieci States that his 
administration may be conducted in 
righteousness and be eminently use- 
ful to Thy people over whom he pre- 
sides, by encouraging due respect for 
virtue and religion; by a faithful ex- 
ecution of the laws In justice and 
mercy, and by restraining vice and 
immorality. Grant, O Lord, that the 
new century which is about to dawn 
upon us may be marked by universal 
peace to the nations of the earth. 
May the words of the prophet Isaiah 
be fulfilled in the coming century, 



when swords shalhbe converted into- 
plowshares and spears into sickles, 
when nation shall .not rise up 
against nation and when the peo- 
ple shall not be exercised to war. 
May the nations of the earth contend 
among one another, not as to which 
of them shall invent the most 
death-dealing weapons of war, but 
rather as to which of them shall in- 
vent the most useful implements 
of husbandry and agriculture. May 
the states of the union and espec- 
ially those Southern States that are 
represented here to-day, engage with 
one another in honorable and friend- 
ly emulation as to which of them 
shall advance 'faster in the path of 
progress, of industry, of enlighten- 
ment and of civilization. May trade 
and commerce, the arts and sciences, 
flourish more and more in this fair 
City of New Orleans. May her citi- 
zens be always conspicuous for their 
justice and temperance, for their rec- 
titude of character, for their civic 
and religious virtues, and may the 
blessing of our Christian religion be 
diffused far and wide throughout the 
land." 



Held in New Orleans, December </-/, 1900. 
TECHNICAL EDUCATIOX. 



63 



BY DR. LYMAN HALL. 



Dr. Lyinan Hall, President Georgia 
School of Technology, being intro- 
duced by President Hargrove, spoke 
as follows : 

"It is with a great deal of pleasure 
that I appear before your honorable 



the greatest State in the South to 
the greatest City in the South to dis- 
cuss the greatest subject in the 
South, I feel deeply the magnitude of 
the task which is before me. The 
program of the exercises of this Con- 



body this morning; and coming from vention furnishes indisputable evi- 




DR. LYMAN HALL, PRES. GEORGIA SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY. 



dence that the subject before us is 
one of the most elaborate questions 
to be considered. For, while other 
subjects have been delegated to one, 
two or three gentlemen, the theme 
under discussion has been given to 
five men of long experience in educa- 



tional lines, and to another gentle- 
man whose name is of national im- 
portance, and who could not be pres- 
ent with us to-day. At the outset, 
we are confronted with a question 
which holds most firmly in its grasp 
the salvation of our best interests, 



'M 



Minutes of The Southern Industii.il Convention, 



the prosperity of our young men and 
the future greatness of our section. 

"Mental ingenuity combined with 
manual skill, commands the wealth 
of nations and the admiration of 
mankind. A group of French and 
Prussian officers were discussing the 
statement of a French subaltern that 
France could make something beau- 
tiful of anything by the genius of 
her masters of workmanship and de- 
sign. 'Bah,' said a Prussian, pluck- 
ing a bristle from his grizzled mous- 
tache, 'make something beautiful of 
that.' In a few days tne bristle was 
returned in the presence of a dis- 
tinguished company; but how 
changed! A snow-white, elastic arc, 
terminated with two spheres of gold 
most delicately wrought, the one Al- 
sace, the other Lorraine; while at 
the center flashed a diamond, beneath 
which, in startling characters, was 
the inscription: 'You hold them but 
by a hair.' Thus was embodied the 
ingenuity of idea and the genius of 
.constructive skill. (Applause.) 

"To-day, as yesterday, France, on 
(--whose soil have been enacted scenes 
s -sufficiently horrible and defeats suf- 
ficiently ignominious to dismantle 
afid destroy the greatest of the 
world's empires, France is still a 
great power, leading the world in 
iisMll, in ingenuity and in design. 

'-industrial education teaches the 
nprocesses of manufacturing and com- 
i-asaercial industry, and includes espec- 
ially the work and not necessarily 
•an educational accomplishment. 
Playfair's definition of technical edu- 
cation says: 'It means that those 
who are engaged in industry should 
have a trained intellect and an un- 
derstanding of the industry which 
they enter as bread winners.' A 
trained intellect and understanding 
of an industry are the results not 
of study or of work alone, but of the 
two combined. 

"The educational feature of special 
training in certain pursuits is abso- 
lutely necessary ror a successful and 
advanced termination of the instruc- 
tion received. No amount of physi- 
cal dexterity can give greatest results 
without the accompaniment of men- 
tal proficiency. Some ancient phil- 
osopher said: 'Give me a fulcrum 
and I'll move the world,' but given 
dhe fulcrum and the world cannot 



be moved without the mental power 
to control the direction and intensity 
of the force, and to estimate its dis- 
tance from the* point of support. 

"A short time ago I received a letter 
from a lady saying that her son was 
an utter failure in his books, and that 
she wished to place him in a school 
where he could be kept busy at man- 
ual labor. My reply told her that a 
diploma from a technical school re- 
quired more mental than physical 
effort, and she was advised to keep 
the young man at home. She wanted 
a reformatory and not a school. The 
technical school should not become a 
workhouse in its generic sense, nor 
should work be made a punishment 
for idleness, except for criminals. 

"This is not an unusual case. In 
the School of Technology in Georgia, 
especially in the beginning of its 
career (I am glad the people have 
learned more about us now), there 
were some applicants who were al- 
most wanting in mental capacity, and 
some of whom enjoyed local reputa- 
tions for laziness and general worth- 
lessness. Their coming was failure, 
their progress was nothing and their 
stay was limited. 

"The brightest minds should be 
sent to technical schools, especially 
those whose natural bent is towards 
mechanical pursuits. By a proper 
mental training, let us give our 
youths the desire for manual labor. 
When the mind is trained to create 
an original design and the hand is 
able to fashion an improvement to 
any existing mechanism for the man- 
ufacture of some new staple of com- 
merce, and to transfer the mental 
photograph with skillful fingers to 
the drawing board, then the labor of 
construction becomes a craze, a de- 
light and not a drudgery. This men- 
tal skill is the charm which keeps 
men like Fritz, Sutro, Ferris, Tesla 
and Edison in their shops and in 
their laboratories while other men 
sleep, reaping the thanks and grati- 
tude of civilization and the rewards 
of genius and fame. 

"The technical schools of the South 
have been handicapped to a great 
extent by having to overcome a sen- 
timent which has existed in our sec- 
tion from time immemorial, that the 
workshop is not a fit place for a gen- 
tleman. Oil and dust have been con- 



Held in -Nciv Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 



»;:» 



sidered by our young men the bar- 
riers to polite society and to the as- 
sociations of our most refined cir- 
cles. But the young Americans 
whose sole physical skill consists in 
leading Germans in superior social 
circles will find that they will be lea 
by Germans in the manufacturing 
world. 

"That country which is superior in 
technical schools will be superior in 
her manufactures and in her ability 
to take advantage of her natural re- 
sources. Her prosperity will be 
greater than that of her neighbors 
and her civilization will be higher. 
England, France, Germany, Russia 
and Austria are ahead of our country 
in this particular. Their schools of 
technology are older, have more 
money, and are given more support 
by the State. 

"Go into any of the marts of trade 
in this country and ask for an arti- 
cle requiring skill and intelligence in 
its manufacture. Select the finest 
and best. They will tell you: '0, 
yes; that is the best. It is imported.'. 
Whenever I hear that sentence, I 
know it is an acknowledgment of 
American inferiority in manufactured 
articles. As technical education 
gives Europe the advantage over 
America, so, in this country, it gives 
the North the advantage over the 
South. An advantage more marked 
in degree, more startling in its ef- 
fect, and in the war of commerce, 
more crushing in its defeats, for the 
South has no protective tariff against 
the North, as the North has against 
Europe. 

"In coming to this Convention, if 
we needed a traveling bag, we gave 
$10.00 for it. It was made in New 
York. If we needed a suit of clothes, 
underwear, shoes, a hat and a walk- 
ing cane, we bought them. All of 
them came from the North. The 
very cotton in some of the material 
was grown on our fields, manufac- 
tured into goods in the North and 
sold back to us at a profit. 

"We necessarily came by rail, 
Pennsylvania rail. We desired to get 
away from a crowded car, and, as we 
like to do occasionally, travel in 
ease, in magnificence and comfort. 
We therefore took a sleeper; a few 
dollars more. On a Chicago sleeper, 
drawn by a Pittsburg locomotive, we 



arrive in New Orleans. Our clothes 
are brushed with a Cincinnati broom, 
our table furnished with Massachu- 
setts crockery, and so on. My friends, 
is it not clear that if it were not 
for the North we would not be here 
at all? 

"In all seriousness, I say that this 
is a demonstration that most of our 
money goes to enrich some one else, 
and that we through ignorance of 
the methods of development of our 
own resources, are left at the mercy 
of those who are our superiors in in- 
telligence and skill in manufactures. 

"Given the same environments of 
two races and superior technical 
training to one of them, what will be 
the outcome in the industrial prog- 
ress of the two in twenty-five years? 
Does it not stand to reason that those 
who are placed in contact with 
skilled instruction, and who become 
most familiar with the trades, will 
become the better workmen and will 
reap the richer harvest in the pro- 
gress of their country? We have 
only to cast our eyes on Alabama to 
see an institution for the practical 
and scientific training of the negro, 
which has more students enrolled to- 
day in practical courses of study 
than all the white technical schools' 
of the South. 

"Admitted that the negro is men- 
tally far beneath the Caucasian; ad- 
mitted that the control of affairs 
with us is to remain with the white 
race; admitted that every influence 
in our social system will ever oper- 
ate to bestow the greater benefits 
upon the white, we must realize the 
fact that the work of the future, 
which is to receive the greatest com- 
pensation and command the highest 
respect, is skilled, intelligent labor. 

"Unlike our brothers of the North, 
we shut out the black man from no- 
field of honorable employment. No 
trades or crafts in the South hold out 
to him greater encouragement than 
those which close their doors against 
him in other States. With greater 
opportunities for industrial training, 
and an open field for the exercise of 
his skill, no unusual logic is required 
to conclude that the negro may be- 
come more than a competitor. 

"As regular as the seasons, come 
the gifts from the friends of the ne- 
gro in the North to build up his in- 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention 



clustrial schools. While in Phila- 
delphia in March a gentleman at the 
Baldwin Locomotive Works inquired 
of negro industrial schools in my 
•own State, whose very existence I 
•did not suspect; yet donations were 
to be immediately forwarded should 
the school prove worthy. In addi- 
tion to sending his thousands for the 
practical training of the negro, our 
"brother at the North confines the 
-operation, of his beneficiary to the 
Southern States, 'I give you this 
money, but see to it that you exer- 
cise your talents south of Mason and 
Dixon.' Surely this is the paradox 
of charity and beneficence. 

"It becomes the duty of educators 
and manufacturers to advocate in 
every legislative hall the advance- 
ment of technical education in the 
South. Poor, indeed, is the equip- 
ment of the technical schools in 
most of our Southern States, and in 
some no advantages whatever are 
offered along these lines. The salva- 
tion of the cause rests upon prompt 
and liberal appropriations from our 
State Governments. Appropriations 
to such a cause are investments, 
•whose dividends are endless and 
without price. The endorsement of 
such a course of legislation by this 
Convention would be eminently 
proper, and I ask that appropriate 
resolutions be passed before your ad- 
journment, urging with your com- 
manding influence that every South- 
ern State make ample provision for 
its technical schools. There is no 
State whose legislature will refuse to 
make appropriations for practical ed- 
ucation when the subject is properly 
presented before them. In June, 
1897, in the State of Georgia, it was 
my privilege to- advocate the estab- 
lishment of a department of textiles 
in the State School of Technology. I 
did not hesitate to gay that when our 
boys and girls should be instructed 
in the manipulation of cotton into 
fabrics of the finest texture and de- 
sign, that the South would again be 
in conflict with the North, not in a 
-conflict of arms, but in a struggle for 
commercial supremacy; that the war 
would be one, not of secession but of 
aggression, and that our own vic- 
tories, assured us by every environ- 
ment of forest and field and stream, 
would mean the emancipation not of 



the negro but of the white race: 
emancipation from poverty, emanci- 
pation from ignorance, emancipation 
from a servile dependence upon other 
sections for the very necessities of 
civilization. 

"As stated, that measure was 
brought before the people in June, 
1897, in a commencement address. In 
June, 1899, the first textile school 
building in America was ready, 
equipped and in operation, with a 
cotton manufacturing plant, which is 
said to be superior in variety and ex- 
cellence to any in the world. 

"There is one phase of technical 
education which deserves the especial 
attention of every city and of every 
technical school; namely: the train- 
ing of boys in the trades. Trade 
schools have been given no atten- 
tion; and yet they would reach a 
class of boys who pass through the 
Grammar School, who are forced 
into business by conditions beyond 
their control, and who are barred by 
every circumstance from colleges and 
schools of technology. 

"Courses in Wood Shop, Machine 
Shop,. Foundry and Smith Shops, in- 
cluding plumbing, drawing, etc., 
adapted particularly to the daily de- 
mands of commerce and business, 
would prepare these boys for skilled 
employment and advanced wages at 
the age of 17 or 18. At one time in 
Atlanta the names of over a hundred 
young men were on the lists of one 
street car company as supernumera- 
ries; awaiting for the opportunity, 
with no certainty in view, of secur- 
ing even temporary employment at 
13c an hour as motormen and con- 
ductors. Four hundred young men 
have been on the supernumerary list 
of the police force at one time, and 
that kind of employment is not noted 
for being lucrative or pleasant. If 
these men had had the advantages of 
trade schools in earlier life, their 
proficiency as skilled laborers would 
have commanded three times the 
wages they were expecting: With 
such an opportunity in his grasp, of 
becoming a skilled workman, the boy 
without the means of obtaining high- 
er education would become a compe- 
tent bread winner for his family, 
when his more fortunate companions 
are going to college and beginning 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



6" 



to enjoy the privileges which to him 
are denied. 

"Alongside our buildings for test- 
ing laboratories and advanced en-. 
. gineering for the ■ fortunate youn;- 
gentleman of golden opportunities, 
let us build the trade school for tne 
boy who must become the early sup- 
port of his widowed mother and the 
bread winner for the brothers and 
sisters who look to him to drive the 
wolf from the door. The benefits of 
such a system require no demonstra- 
tion, they would reach a greater 
number than the advantages of high 
school and college, and their most 
eloquent advocates may be found in 
every family where death, disaster 
■ or financial reverses have lert lega- 
cies of widowhood, steering and pov- 
erty. 

"Before 1S65, self-preservation, as 
related to making a living, was not 
even a remote consideration or mat- 
ter of concern to the average South- 
ern boy. His money commanded tae 
products of the most skilful handi- 
craftsmen and the fabrics from the 
finest looms in the world. Learning 
how to do things was not only unin- 
teresting but scoffea at. The South- 
ern prince grew up with the idea that 
things grew on trees, and was indif- 
ferent since his purse commanded 
the crop. 

"Time passed. In the vast devel- 
opment which followed the ruins of 
the sword, fortunes were made, there 
was plenty to do, the cotton crop 
was gold in abundance, money flowed 
into the cities and towns, and occu- 
pations were plentiful and remunera- 
tive. In the hurry for fortune, thor- 
oughness and completeness in educa- 
tion were neglected. A smattering 
of bookkeeping, of law, of medicine, 
of business methods was sufficient, 
then on to fortune. 

"Then came the collapse. Money 
ceased to come in such abundance 
for the products of our fields. Firms 
having large pay rolls began to cut 
them down. Salaries were cut, situ- 
ations were difficult to get, and mort- 
gages came in clouds. The interest 
on the mortgage, if not the confisca- 
tion of the land itself, began to drive 
the people from the country to the 
cities and towns. The rivalry for 
place in store, in office, and in pro- 
fession has been growing fiercer and 



fiercer, till to-day there is but one 
field left in which there is no com- 
petition, in which tae job, the situa- 
tion, the employment stands and im- 
plores all young men and women: 
'Come and take me.' iuai i B ms 
field of skilled labor. 

"The Southern people live on small 
incomes. The heaa of the family 
spends his ail in the support of his 
loved ones and in the education of 
his children. The day arrives when 
the boy or girl must become self- 
supporting. For years the hard earn- 
ings of the father, orcen of the wid- 
owed mother, have been expended for 
the preparation of the young for tneir 
life work. ' Has the investment been 
profitable? Is it to give an imme- 
diate, substantial return? If not, it 
is a failure. The education pur- 
chased by denials at home fails in 
its object, and, as a means to do an 
end, it is a disappointment. 

"The day has come when purely 
theoretical training is a failure. We, 
as educators, must face this fact and 
apply the remedy. Our boys are 
sent, to High Schools, and to Col- 
leges and finish their education. They 
look around for employment in vain. 
Practical men of business, the labor- 
ing world of to-day, want young men 
who can do. Is the young man 
trained for a profession? He finds 
in the cities two doctors to one pa- 
tient, two preachers to one congrega- 
tion, two lawyers to one client. Un- 
less he has the backing of moneyed 
relations or friends he is often 
forced to abandon the profession for 
which he has been prepared. 

"Last year I spent a few days in 
one of the towns in my State in 
which is located one of our leading 
institutions of learning. The head of 
a family who had several sons to 
graduate at the school told me the 
boys were greater burdens after fin- 
. ishing their educations than before, 
because there was no opening suit- 
able for their attainments. How 
many young men do you know, ed- 
ucated far beyond the average, who 
are unable to get work of any de- 
scription commensurate with their 
abilities? I asked 25 young teachers 
how they came to teach. Twenty- 
five answered that when they started 
in life no avenue of labor offered 
them immediate employment, be- 



68 



Minutes of The Southern Industiial Convention. 



cause they were without any special 
training which brougnt immediate 
price in the markets. &o tney oegan 
to teacn. That is tne history of tne 
majority oi our proiession. Let us 
then nut educate men wno have to 
teach, tor ail of us are aware mat 
teachers are the poorest paid peopie 
on the face of the earth. 

"Any article obtained without la- 
bor has no exchangeable value, and 
labor requiring no practice or educa- 
tion brings the lowest price. Dex- 
terous labor, which, by practice, ena- 
bles us to perform work quickly and 
nicely, brings a higher price; and 
skilled, educated labor, showing a 
knowledge of the principles underly- 
ing the operation, brings the highest 
price. Rude labor destroys values 
rather than creates them. One blow 
of the rude lp.borer may destroy the 
work of years, while the last blow of 
the sculptor turns tne statue into 
gold and underscores his name with 
immortality. 

"Aniline colors, surpassing in 
beauty the Tyrian Purple, are made 
from coal tar, until lately a worth- 
less refuse; and the aniline blue sells 
for $2-8.00 per pound. A pound of 
cotton costing 9c, made into muslin 
of good design, sells for 80 cents, 
and into chintz, $4.00. A pound of 
the finest cotton costing 25c, made 
into cotton lace, will bring $1,000.00. 
Iron ore costing 75 cents, made into 
bar iron will sell for $5.00, horse 
shoes $10.50, table knives $180.00, the 
finest needles $6,800.00, shirt buttons 
$29,480.00, watch springs $200,000.00, 
hair springs $400,000.00 pallet arbors 
$2 577 595.00. Authorities at Wash- 
ington and Mr. Carnegie have not 
been able as yet to compute what 
this 75 cents worth of iron ore would 
be worth when manufactured into ar- 
mor plate. (Laughter and applause.) 
"There is one false idea prevalent 
as to manual training. We are apt 
to think that unless our boy shows a 
marked talent for constructing toys, 
bridges machines, he will never suc- 
ceed in' mechanical pursuits. There 
was never a greater mistake. Noth- 
ing grows in nature till the sur- 
roundings are adequate. The seed 
lies inactive for years until the chem- 
ical conditions arise to cause the 
bursting forth of the life principle. 
Se it is with the mind. We cannot 



judge what the greatest results will 
be till we surround the brain with 
divers opportunities. We do not wait 
for our son to produce a finished 
piece of rhetoric before giving him 
the advantage of elementary train- 
ing in the rudiments of language. 
Likewise we should not wait for him 
to build a locomotive before con- 
cluding that he may have talent 
along mechanical lines. 

"I suppose most of us are South- 
erners here to-day. We have seen the 
cotton and its blossoms and bolls 
since infancy. We think we are fa- 
miliar with its every phase, yet, sup- 
pose I ask you some questions: 

"What is a warping machine, a tra- 
verse wheel grinder, a speeder, a. 
ring twister, a finisher picker? 

"I might as well ask most of you 
to perform the labors of Hercules 
as to answer these questions. Yet, 
my friends, these are some of the 
mysterious things which have been 
presented to Georgia by manufac- 
turers who never saw a cotton stalk, 
to teach our boys and girls the man- 
ufacture of the common cotton which 
we see every day in every field about 
us. 

"Let us resolve to lift the veil of 
ignorance from our boys and girls, 
teach them things rather than theo- 
ries, and open to them possibilities 
which circumstances have eliminated 
from our own fields of endeavor. 

"Thus we can build States full of 
workers and developers, and enrich 
ourselves by the advanced price of 
our resources, now pocketed by non- 
residents and aliens. The comple- 
tion of the Nicaraguan Canal, the 
acquisition of Cuba, the Philippines 
and Porto Rico will place us in touch 
with all the markets of the Americas 
and the far East. If we become 
great in manufactures, new palaces 
will be built over the sites of old 
colonial grandeur, the skill of the 
artisan will succeed the ignorance of 
the slave, and modern thought, inge- 
nuity and thrift, combined with our 
high moral status, will unite to make 
us the wisest, best, wealthiest peo- 
ple of the earth. 

"The crowning honors of nations 
increase with the progress and per- 
fection of their skill and handicraft; 
the orderly arrangement and happi- 
ness of all human families will rest 



Held in Nczv Orleaf.s } December 4-7, 1900. 



69 



upon the dissipation of idleness and 
the profitable employment of per- 
fected skill, workmanship and de- 
sign; man's nearest approach to God 
lies in the utilization of every tal- 
ent for the necessity and happiness 
of the human race in the manipula- 
tion of those materials which God 
places in all climes and at the door- 
ways of all nations. 

"At creation's dawn, when the ele- 
ments of our solar system swept 
through trackless regions of space 
"behold a master workman came and 
wrought, and planets took their 
tracks and moved in seasons at His 
will; and, 

" 'God saw everything that he had 
made and behold it was very good.' 

"Man gets his message from the 
Psalm of David: 

" 'When I consider Thy heavens, 
the work of Thy fingers, the moon 
and the stars which Thou hast or- 
dained; 

" "What is man, that Thou art 
mindful of him? And the Son of Man 
that Thou visiteth him? 

" 'Thou makest him to have do- 
minion over the works of Thy hands; 
Thou hast put all things under his 
feet.' 

"This message is to have its fulfil- 



ment in the centuries dawning upon 
us, when man shall raise the stand- 
ard of human greatness by the em- 
ployment of skill ana talent and in- 
genuity in imitation of the work of 
God, who, in assembling the ele- 
ments of the spheres, pronounced 
His efforts good and wrote perfec- 
tion across the face of the universe." 
(Applause.) 

Secretary Thompson: I am just in 
receipt of a telegram from Senator 
John T. Morgan, in reply to the mes- 
sage sent him by this Convention. 
The telegram reads as follows: 

"Washington, D. C, Dec. 5, 1900. 
"N. F. Thompson, Secretary of 
Southern Industrial Convention, 
New Orleans, La. 

"Please express to the Convention 
my gratitude for the honor they be- 
stowed on me. I have only tried to 
perform the plainest duty of a citi- 
zen to our country. The prospects 
of success grow brighter every day. 
Costa Rica and Nicaragua are in 
happy accord with our Government 
in making preliminary agreements of 
vital importance. 

JOHN T. MORGAN." 

The reading of this telegram was 
greeted with loud applause. 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 



BY. PROP. BROWN AYRES. 



Chairman Story: I will now intro- 
duce to you Prof. Brown Ayres of 
Tulane University, who will speak on 
the same subject, viz: Technical Ed- 
ucation. 

Prof. Brown Ayres then read the 
following paper: 

"To one who, in these closing days 
of the nineteenth century, gives even 
superficial attention to the character 
of our civilization, it must seem 
strange that it is still necessary to 
make a plea for technical education. 
Modern civilization, whether mani- 
fested in peace or war, is based on 
scientific achievement; and this be- 
ing granted, it is a self-evident corol- 
lary that the encouragement of scien- 
tific education and activity is of 
prirre importance to the State. All 
thinking men are agreed that the 
material prosperity of a country is 



not the ultimate highest good; yet 
it is the foundation on which must 
rest any extensive development of 
the higher spiritual life of the peo- 
ple. It is only in a community 
where material conditions are satis- 
factory that there can be opportunity 
for the mass of the people to be 
brought in touch with the thought of 
the world's great master minds. The 
genius of a Shakespeare, a Raphael 
or a Beethoven do not reach the 
mind or heart of a man in great pov- 
erty; nor is it possible for even the 
well-to-do to fully enjoy the works 
of the masters unless the drama, art 
and music are financially supported. 
Wide-spread culture and refinement 
are conditioned on material prosper- 
ity, and hence for the sake of cul- 
ture, as well as of physical comfort, 
we must get wealth. The ideal and 



'0 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



the practical are thus not only not 
antagonistic, but are really mutually 
helpful. 

"To study the character of ma- 
terial development possible and ap- 
propriate to a community and to 
strive to realize this development in 
the fullest possible way, is the su- 
preme duty of its puolic men; and is 
as well the privilege of those phil- 
anthropic citizens who have been 
placed by fortune in a position to 
wield an influence or supply the 
means by which this appropriate de- 
velopment may be brought about. 
Among the many influences that may 
be factors in the development of our 
common country — and especially of 
our Southern States — it is my privi- 
lege to speak to you to-day of the 
engineer — what he is, what he can do 
for us, and how and where he can 
best be educated. 

What is engineering, and why has 
it special claims at this time on the 
attention of the thinking men of the 
South? I have elsewhere asked and 
answered this question: 

" 'Engineering has been well de- 
fined to be the science and art of 
utilizing the forces and materials of 
naiure — a definition which itself sugr 
gests the unlimited scope of the sci- 
ences and arts which are covered by 
this generic term. In the marvellous 
resources of our section, we have 
been given by Providence the possi- 
bility of a material development such 
as few have yet dreamed of. Little 
has been done by us to develope these 
great resources — and why? Largely 
because our brightest minds have 
chosen to tread rather the smooth 
and well-beaten paths of the so- 
called learned professions than the 
rougher and more uncertain path of 
the engineer. In this choice they 
have been coerced by a false public 
opinion of the relative importance of 
things, and lack either the clear- 
sightedness to see its error or the 
courage to rise superior to its man- 
dates. As long, however, as this 
state of affairs exists, so long will 
our beautiful Southland be but im- 
perfectly developed: or if developed, 
it will be by aliens to whom we have 
sold our birthright for a mess of pot- 
tage!' 

"The minister, the lawyer and the 
physician are all necessary, but the 



modern social oiganism is a very 
complex one, and calls for all of- 
these and more. The farmer and the= 
manufacturer, the miner and the rail- 
road man, the electrician and the 
chemist, the seaman and the soldier 
— all of these are needed, and con- 
stitute a great class that may be in- 
cluded in the broad term engineer: 
-and this class is the very heart of 
the body politic. 

"We of the South have perhaps 
spent too much time in the past in 
congratulating ourselves on our great 
natural resources and superior con- 
ditions of climate and location, over- 
looking the fact that invention and. 
highly trained skill can offset the 
disadvantages under which other 
communities labor. If we have been 
signally favored of God, as we ue- 
lieve that we have been, this is no 
reason why we should stand supinely 
by and see other less favored coun- 
tries and sections reap a reward that 
would be ours for the asking. A. 
wise writer has said: 

" 'The material prosperity of any 
country in the immediate future will 
be determined far more by the intel- 
ligent direction given to its indus- 
trial pursuits tnan by either its nat- 
ural advantages in raw materials 
and transportation facilities, or its 
past achievements in any particular 
direction. The constant cheapening 
of the cost of production of man- 
ufactured articles by science and in- 
vention dwarfs into insignficance the 
apparent advantages of geographical 
position. The practical obliteration of" 
time and space by the speed and 
economy of modern transportation 
facilities has caused the earth to 
shrink and shrivel to dimensions far- 
smaller relatively than those of the 
Roman Empire in its palmy days.' 

"These are words of wisdom, and 
I beg of my Southern brethren that 
they will weigh them long and care- 
fully, for they teach us this impor- 
tant lesson — that if we would make 
our pection great among the com- 
munities of the world we must edu- 
cate our sons to become leaders of 
industry, rather than professional 
ripn civ mere merchants. These in- 
dustrial leaders must be men oi 
brains — they should be our best and 
our ablest men. They should be 
trained for the struggle in which- 



Held in Nczu Orleans December 4-7 1900. 



71 



;they are to take part, as an athlete 
is trained for the contest. There was 
a time when a knowledge of the 
arts was 'traditional and had to be 
learned by the traditional methods; 
to-day, all such knowledge is scien- 
tific and should be acquired by scien- 
tific methods. Formerly the indus- 
tries were directed by mechanics, 
who, by a long apprenticeship, had 
slowly acquired the manual methods 
of their predecessors; to-day they 
are most successfully guided by men 
fOf large scientific attainments; and 
.in the near future such scientific 
direction will be absolutely essential 
wherever there is free competition in 
the market to be supplied.' * * * * 

" 'Is is evident enougn that no art 
-or science can be known until it 
has been learned, and to learn most 
rapidly and thoroughly one must be 
taught.' 

"To do this teaching we must have 
: schools. Some we already have 
which are doing splendid work for 
their meagre resources. But these 
must be greatly strengthened, and we 
must have still others. These 
schools, while training carefully in 
all those great fundamental princi- 
ples of nature which underlie techni- 
cal education, must emphasize 
most strongly those phases of 
industrial science and art which 
bear most directly and imme- 
diately on local conditions. In this 
way our own men will upbuild their 
native land and we will have a 
South for Southerners. We must not 
depend too much on foreign capital, 
which comes to us for the sake of the 
toll we are willing to pay, and which 
drains our substance and makes us 
slaves to the foreign capitalist, im- 
migration of skilled men is highly 
desirable — men who will cast in their 
lot with us and become a part of us. 
but over and above all this we need 
trained Southern men who will have 
confidence and go ahead. We need 
trained engineers; artisans can easily 
be taught by them. The day of the 
rule of the thumb man has passed. 

"Our great chieftian, General Rob- 
ert E. Lee, understood this need per- 
haps better than any Southerner who 
has followed him. In his plans tor 
the development of Washington Col- 
lege, whose presidency he accepted 
.after the close of the struggle iD 



which he had done his duty, as he 
saw it, he gave great prominence to 
the thought of building up tnere a 
school of engineering. His death and 
a lack of aaequate means prevented 
the consummation of his hopes, but 
that he was right in his estimate of 
the importance of the engineer to the 
upbuilding of the stricken South, no 
one can doubt. At the time at which 
this step was taken by him, there 
were few technical schools in una' 
country. Now there are many, out 
not too many. Unfortunately the 
strong ones are not here among us. 
Our own modest schools are making 
progress, however, but with a fear- 
ful waste of time and energy for lack 
.of means. Strange how slow is tne 
awakening to the importance of this 
kind of education. Some years since 
while examining the great Federal 
Polytechnic School at Zurich I was 
struck with the elaborateness and 
perfection of tneir appliances for in- 
struction in the textile arts. As I 
stood looking at these appliances I 
thought, 'What a shame it is tnat 
nowhere in our Southern country is 
there a textile school, while here. 
thousands of miles from the cotton 
fields, the importance of instruction 
in the textile arts is fully appreci- 
ated.' Since that time I have been 
rejoiced to see an awakening in this 
matter. But in one case, at least, 
the South waited for a Northern man 
to supply the funds for the equipment 
of the school. Gentlemen, this must 
not be. We must not wait. God 
helps those who help themselves; 
and it is the duty of our legislators 
to make ample provision for this and 
for other engineering instruction in 
our Southern schools. If they fail 
to do this, they will be penny-wise 
and pound-foolish. There is also 
now a golden opportunity for our 
public spirited men of wealth to help 
a noble cause by relatively moderate 
gifts of money to technical schools. 
We have no Carnegies or Rockefel- 
lers in the South, but a few thou- 
sands of dollars to some worthy 
Southern institution may do more 
real srood to the country at this criti- 
cal time than many'times the amount 
to richer institutions elsewhere. Here 
in Louisiana we have a great sugar 
industry that is threatened with 
ruinous competition from the newly 



72 



Minutes of The Southern Indiistri.il Convention 



acquired colonies and from Europe. 
The solution of its problems lies in 
a more kkiiied direction of the pro- 
cesses 01 manufacture. Yet no phil- 
anthropist has arisen to make the 
training of these skilled directors 
possible. In this, as in other fields 
of engineering instruction, expensive 
appliances are absolutely necessary. 
The most enthusiastic teacher is al- 
most hopelessly handicapped for lack 
of them. 

"Our legislatures halt at small ap- 
propriations for the establishment of 
textile schools, when if the appropri- 
ations were made one could almost 
see the bread returning on the 
waters, so immediate would be the 
effect in stimulating cotton manufac- 
turing. The contributions of the 
General Government to the cause of 
technical education in the South, 
through the appropriations of the 
Morrill bills, have been of great val- 
ue. In fact, without them very little 
would have been done, for the South 
has done little for itself in technical 
education. Neither by appropriation 
nor endowment has any really well 
equipped school been established by 
Southern money. It is a trite remark 
that the South is poor. She is not 
too poor to develop her technical 
schools. Self-preservation is the first 
law of nature; and this is almost a 
question of self-preservation. The 
real difficulty is not our poverty, 
but our slowness to appreciate the 
value of technical education. 

"A most salutary lesson may be 
learned by us from a study of the in- 
dustrial conditions of Germany. 
Thirty years ago Germany was a 
collection of small States, relatively 
poor, and with such small industrial 
opportunities that large emigration 
was necessary. In the interval of 
thirty years a great nation has come 
into existence, a most extraordinary 
development of manufactures has 
taken pl^ce. and Germany now dis- 
putes with England the claim to first 
place in commerce among European 
powers. Her manufacturing has in- 
creased tenfold, her shipping twenty- 
fold. SJie has established an export 
trade with every country on the 
globe, and by the cheapness and qual- 
ity of her products has become a for- 
midable competitor for trade at our 
very doors. Indeed, how common 



in everyone's experience is the label,, 
'Made in Germany.' Here in New 
Orleans we sometimes eat German 
sugar. Wnat a commentary! And to 
what is this wonderful development 
of Germany due? To her tecnmcal 
schools! J8y her far-sighted eau- 
cational policy she has solved a prob- 
lem that had baffled the efforts of 
her ablest statesmen and financiers, 
— how to maintain her increasing 
population. Can we not learn a les- 
son from her? I think we can, and 
we will be very foolish if we do not. 
German maintains splendidly- 
equipped schools, with full corps of 
of instructors, for training in every 
great industry which she has, and 
these schools are provided in such 
numbers and located at such points 
that a sufficient number of leaders 
for all her great industries is contin- 
ually being supplied. Her object in 
these schools is not to train work- 
men, but to train skilled engineers 
and foremen. If the director of an 
industrial establishment is what he 
should be the workmen can easily 
be trained; but even skilled work- 
men under inefficient direction will 
fail to get the best results. 

"The same wise counsellor whom I 
have already quoted, remarks: 'When 
industrial capacity rested wholly up- 
on traditional and empirical know- 
ledge and upon manual skill, it was 
absolutely essential that artisans 
should obtain all this knowledge and 
skill as apprentices in the shops and 
mills as manual helpers and as unin- 
telligent copyists. But since nearly all 
processes of the artisan have now a 
scientific and rational basis, and the 
work is done by machines which are 
the embodiment of the highest type 
of human reason and understanding; 
and since the machines require an al- 
most equally intelligent oversight 
and direction to produce their larg- 
est output; and furthermore, since 
the new discoveries of science require 
continual changes in materials and 
methods to keer» abreast of the times 
and to hold the market, and entirely 
new industries are daily established 
founded on some new discovery or 
invention; and since the demand no 
longer determines the supply but new 
and improved supplies are constantly 
creating their own demands in all 
lines of industry; it is evident that 



Held in Nczv Orleans December 4-7 ipoo. 



73 



the efficient direction of any industry 
to-day demands a very large amount 
of technical knowledge which can 
not be learned at the bench or in the 
shops.' 

" 'While self-edueaiion is always 
possible, the obstacles are commonly 
prohibitive, and at best the results 
are meagre and unsatisfactory. There 
is no more costly luxury than an in- 
ventive but ignorant superintendent.' 

" 'Germany has seen this situation 
most clearly and it is her clear per- 
ception of this problem and her ra- 
tional and thorough solution of it 
that has raised her industrially from 
poverty and obscurity to wealth and 
fame in the short period of a quarter 
of a century.' 

"In conclusion, let me earnestly 
hope, as a Southern man who loves 



the South, that in the future we may 
talk less of our natural advan- 
tages and resources and more 
of our plans for educating our- 
selves to utilize these to the best 
advantage. When we have learned 
well the lesson that Germany teaches 
us; when we become a skilled com- 
munity in a land of vast possibili- 
ties; then, and not until then, will 
our beloved Southland be what we 
all believe it was intended to be — 
the richest and most prosperous sec- 
tion of our great and noble country.'' 
(Applause. ) 

At the conclusion of Prof. Brown 
Ayers' paper the Convention dele- 
gates were requested to rise on ac- 
count of the departure of his Emin- 
ence Cardinal Gibbons, who then left 
the Convention. 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 



BY DR. R. B. FULTON. 



Chairman Story: The next speaker 
on Technical Education is Dr. R. 
B. Fulton, of the University of Mis- 
sissippi. 

Dr. R. B. Fulton addressed the 
Convention as follows: 

"The system of education at pres- 
ent existing in the Southern States, 
if it may yet be called a system, is 
a growth out of conditions almost 
chaotic. So much has the promotion 
of the work of education ever been 
regarded as a proper expression of 
benevolence, or as a charity, that 
the real function of the State in 
education, or the true purpose 
which should influence individuals 
who give of their wealth to found ed- 
ucational institutions, has been often 
obscured. 

"While this notion of good will and 
charity as motives for promoting ed- 
ucational work has made a door wide 
enough to admit the State, the Church 
and individuals to participation, and 
in this respect has been useful, this 
notion has at the same time hin- 
dered a 'truer and better conception 
by inculcating the idea that the work 
of Dromotins: the education of the 
young by the State, by the Church, or 
by individuals, is beneficence rather 
than business. 

For this and other reasons the 



world is slow to realize that the ed- 
ucation of youth, under whatever 
auspices properly conducted, is the 
most important work or business in 
the State. It is a most auspicious 
omen and token of advancement that 
the officers of this industrial con- 
vention have given such full oppor- 
tunity for those concerned with ed- 
ucational work to speak during these 
meetings. Every topic upon the pro- 
gramme of this convention suggests 
an eager looking into the future to 
find the possibilities and to see the 
results which the twentieth century 
shall bring to the varied business and 
material interests here represented. 
It is most gratifying to know that 
the work of education, at least in one 
form, is deemed worthy to rank 
among the industries which are de- 
veloping our section of the Union, 
and to which the twentieth century 
will certainly open wider doors and 
broader avenues for advancement. 

"What is then the outlook for ed- 
ucational work, and what are its 
present tendencies? 

"Differentiation of function, the ap- 
nortionment of special work to spec- 
ial school and special teachers, 
will be the most important and 
most characteristic change in ed- 
ucational methods and plans in 



74 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention 



the first years of the twentieth cen- 
tury. This differentiation has in 
some sort already made distinct pro- 
gress with us during the last twenty- 
five years. Our best elementary 
schools are graded, and have the 
special duties of each teacher de- 
fined. The best secondary or high 
schools are discarding the elemen- 
tary and the collegiate work which is 
not properly theirs, though, unfor- 
tunately our colleges and universi- 
ties, in many instances, are still do- 
ing much work that properly be- 
longs to secondary schools. With sup- 
port received jointly from the Fed- 
eral Government and the State, dis- 
tinct colleges and schools of agricul- 
ture and the mechanic arts and other 
industrial and technical schools have 
been maintained. Other institutions 
of high grade, universities and col- 
leges, have introduced wider cur- 
ricula, with distinct departments, 
and have given place to science stud- 
ies, and those connected directly with 
industrial pursuits. The Physical 
Sciences have not only forced for 
themselves a large place -in all col- 
lege and university curricula, but are 
demanding fuller recognition there, 
and full admission into our lower 
schools. 

"There are two important particu- 
lars in which coming changes will 
certainly modify the policies and the 
work of our schools o'f higher rank. 
In the first place, those institutions 
which aspire to be called colleges or 
universities must see that vastly 
more is lost than is gained when 
their rolls are swelled by the names 
of immature and aimless students 
in preparatory classes, and when the 
funds and the energies of the insti- 
tution are spent in work that prop- 
erly belongs to elementary or second- 
ary schools. In the second place, in- 
stitutions intended specially to give 
scientific or technical training will 
learn that their best work is not 
done when they attempt to be all 
things to all men — to give classical 
or literary culture as well as techni- 
cal — to prepare for ultimate entrance 
into the profession of law or of 
teaching as well as for the manage- 
ment of industrial enterprises. 

The very names college and uni- 
versity are a survival from that past 
age when every aspiring teacher was 



expected to know all learning, and 
every ambitious school was expected. 
to widen its curriculum over all the 
fields of knowledge. Tbe classical 
colleges have ever claimed for tneir 
domain, 'science, literature and the • 
arts.' The newer technical schools, 
intended for giving special training, 
have often seemed to give their plans 
equally wide range. The historic 
significance of the word university 
has ever been attractive to ambitious 
schools, and has been very potent in 
centralizing educational efforts, no 
matter how incongruous. 

"Will the claim that a school of the 
highest rank, in order to be success- 
ful, must be a university in the sense 
of covering all branches of human 
learning, stand the test of conditions 
that will exist in the twentieth cen-. 
tury? I think not. 

"That development which has . 
forced a place in school and college 
curricula for sciences old and new, . 
will not cease until the applications 
of these sciences in the arts are fully 
taught in schools that are specially 
planned and amply furnished and 
properly administered for this sole 
purpose. 

"The establishment of colleges of" 
agriculture and the mechanic arts 
and of industrial schools under State 
control was an educational move- 
ment too large to be reversed. In 
fact, educational movements never 
lead back to former conditions. 
Whatever of good these special 
schools may have accomplished for 
individuals, they have not yet fully 
met the expectations of their projec- 
tors in their influence upon indus- 
trial conditions in the South. FTa^h 
of these schools has heretofore been 
regarded largely as an experiment. 
Its industrial or technical training 
has been given without ample mater- 
ial facilities, and has been so linked 
to other unrelated work, or so con- 
ditioned bv the imnerfect preDara- 
tion of students applying for admis- 
sion, or by the requirement for im- 
mediate popularity and large num- 
bers on the rolls.. as that the highest 
and best results have as yet been un- 
attainable. 

"Technical education in the South, 
in the institutions already estab- 
lished and in those which mav be 
established, will not achieve for in- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



75 



dividuals, nor for the community, 
the highest and fullest results until 
such education shall be made to con- 
form more fully to the law which 
the experience of all the past shows 
to be the governing principle in ed- 
ucational advancement. History 
teaches that the educational in- 
fluences which have ever been most 
beneficent and progressive and up- 
lifting are those which flow down- 
ward from institutions of highest 
grade to those whose environment 
tends to a lower level of scholarship 
and weaker ideals. This historical 
fact, consistent alike with reason, ap- 
plies to all the development of the 
older schools, and its application in 
the development of modern techni- 
cal schools is equally sure. 

"The greatest educational need of 
the South to-day is at least one in- 
stitution pre-eminently fitted by its 
material equipment, its means of 
support and its environment to com- 
mand and hold without challenge the 
position of leader in technical train- 
ing among the institutions about it. 
No one of the State institutions can 
claim this position for our section. 
Each is restrained by unavoidable 
limitations in its material foundation, 
its resources, or its environment. 
The various efforts made for the es- 
tablishment of a National university 
in Washington, for whose effective 
result, I regret to say, I see no good 
reason to hope, even if successful, 
would not create the institution we 
need for giving direction and tone 
and power to technical education in 
the South. 

"Such an institution should exhibit 
in its buildings the latest and best 
that architecture can accomplish. 
Its libraries should fully tell what 
the world's industries are accom- 
plishing everywhere. Its apparatus 
should include not mere diminutive 
models, but useful machines, of life 
size, and exhibited in action. The 
classic Archimede's screw and Hiero's 
fountain should give place to air 
lifts and Worthington pumps. Stu- 
dents should learn from seeing and 
handling things more largely than 
from books. The whole institution 
should be a laboratory, and students 
should be admitted only when they 
are prepared for work in such a lab- 
oratory. 



"The establishment, maintenance 
ana equipment 01 sucn an .institution. 
\vuuiu icy Line a large sum — large 
wuici± uumca iu me ooutn, ana yet 
not large wiieu comparea witn girts 
wnicn nave lately oeen niaue to in- 
stitutions ol learning outside our 
section, ine statement has oeen re- 
peatecuy puonsned tnat the private 
uonauons maae in tms country to* 
scnoois and colleges in the year l8y9 
aggregated a sum exceeding nxty mil- 
lions 01 aouars. Was as much as. 
one million donatea to all the col- 
leges in tne bouth in that year? To 
anord the material appliances for 
such an institution as we need, one 
million dollars is a minimum sum. 
To maintain its work as it should be, 
an endowment of not less than three: 
millions would be needed. Witb> 
such a beginning the institution that 
we need could be placed in a position, 
of leadership among our technical 
schools, ana thus wield a vast and. 
beneficent and uplifting influence 
that would be felt by every agency 
for sound education now existing in 
our Southern section. 

"It is thought that any existing in- 
stitution in our section, whether 
under State or other management,, 
can claim and occupy this place. 
Whatever may be the dopes and as- 
pirations of these, and however well 
their present work is being done, 
lack of material equipment or of 
means of support, or special envir- 
onment, will until present conditions 
are changed, hold each back from, 
the position of unchallenged leader- 
ship which should be filled. 

"In all the world no field elsewhere- 
gives such full assurance of rich re- 
turns to capital invested in educa- 
tion as is offered in the now existing 
opportunity to place in a position of 
leadership among our technical 
schools an institution able to meet, 
the occasion and worthy of this high- 
calling. 

"Can there not be found some- 
where that union of wealth, material 
with wealth of noble liberality which 
shall provide in the first years of the- 
coming century for this most press- 
ing need of education in the South? 
Among the many great captains of 
industry whose genius and whose 
labor have won them more than sat- 
isfying wealth, are there not those 



76 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



who will look into the educational 
needs of the South and see the uplift 
that such an institution as is needed 
would, through its far reaching in- 
fluences, give to all education and to 



all social and industrial life? Such 
a benefactor would erect for himself 
a monument more lasting than brass 
— or gold. (Applause.) 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION 



BY PROF. J. V. CALHOUN. 



Chairman Story: You will now 
have the privilege of listening to 
Prof. J. V. Calhoun, State Superin- 
tendent of Education, Baton Rouge, 
La., who will follow the other speak- 
ers with an address on this all-im- 
portant subject of technical educa- 
tion. 

Prof. J. V. Calhoun then read the 
following paper: 

"As the representative of the public 
^schools of Louisiana, I present my- 
self before this industrial convention 
and in their name and my own I 
give emphatic expression of our uni- 
versal and cordial concurrence with 
the aims, aspirations and labors of 
this august association. Every true 
friend and every interested benefi- 
ciary of the South should be here; 
for this is a convention whose ob- 
ject is the declaration of the funda- 
mental and industrial independence 
of the South. The true secret of the 
social and political independence of 
any people is to be found in the in- 
dependence of their sources of wealth 
and power. Indolent and impover- 
ished States and communities have 
no more weight in shaping public 
councils and sharing in the rewards 
derived from them, than shiftless and 
poverty-stricken individuals have in 
the social and business circles of the 
places they infest. When the South 
comes to the conclusion that she 
will keep for herself the riches which 
nature is giving her; when she re- 
solves to develope her great vegetable 
and mineral resources and herself 
convert them into useful and neces- 
sary articles of traffic, then, and not 
until then, will she attain that wealth 
and population, which will restore 
to her the prestige she once possessed 
In directing the legislation of the na- 
tion, and covering its constitution 
with her protecting aegis. 

"It is therefore a cause of much en- 
couragement to us to see here as- 



sembled the representatives of so 
many Southern States, and the lead- 
ers of so many industrial and com- 
mercial enterprises. Only in union 
is there any strength among men; 
and this lesson we are taught wner- 
ever we turn our eyes upon the ma- 
terial world around us. Only God 
can act and produce by himself alone; 
he alone is absolute and free from 
necessary relation; out all finite or 
created beings are relative and de- 
pendent, and for the production of 
any effect must work in unison with 
others. Every material object is 
composed of myriads of atoms and 
molecules, united by the natural law 
of harmony and attraction, thus con- 
spiring to form the volume of all 
solid, liquid and gaseous substances, 
and the whole range of existence in 
the material universe. Our lives are 
preserved and governed by the united 
action of the organs of our physical 
nature, and the operation of the 
moral and intellectual faculties of our 
spiritual substance; from this union 
results our individual personality; 
and the rupture of this union is our 
individual death. Flowers of various 
forms and colors are put together to 
form a pleasing present or decora- 
tion; many parts are united to give 
strength and beauty to the handsome 
structure in which we are assembled. 
Rays must combine to form those 
beams of light which reveal to us 
the beauties of the face of nature; 
and in like manner as by means of 
the lens the rays of light are intensi- 
fied in heat and luminous power and 
converged upon one object of inves- 
tigation, so also, to quote from the 
language of the arrangement com- 
mittee of this convention, 'It may not 
be doubted, that through the delib- 
erations and discussions of the able 
economists, thinners and merchants, 
assembled from all parts of the coun- 
try to probe and elucidate the vital 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-j, ipoo. 



7T 



questions coming up for considera- 
tion, a light wiii be shed on local 
conditions and oa those splendid 
trade opportunities and advantages 
which New Orleans as a seaport and 
trade centre pre-emnently possesses, 
while the independent interests of 
the Northwest and the Middle States 
with New Orleans, by reason of cheap 
water routes through the Mississippi 
and its tributaries, and the seaboard 
of the Gulf, will be brought out with 
luminous forcefulneiss as the subject 
matter of the addresses to be deliv- 
ered demonstrate.' 

"In reference to the connection 
of the schools with the objects of 
this convention, I have thought 
that the character of all our 
education, public and private, should 
conform to the scientific and indus- 
trial spirit of the age. Until a 
few decades ago the kind of ed- 
ucation given in schools, elementary 
or collegiate, both in Europe and 
America was suited only to convert 
a student into a doctor of law, medi- 
cine, or theology, or a votary of lit- 
erature or metaphysical! philosophy. 
The abstract and the beautiful capti- 
vated the minds of men, their liter- 
ature was lofty, their philosophy al- 
most divine; and they descended 
from the regions of the possible and 
ideal into those of real practical, 
only when enticed by the charms of 
the lovely and beautiful. They have 
left us specimens of thei:r genius in 
the fine arts which we gaze upon 
with despair, as we make confession 
that their poetry, music, architecture, 
painting and sculpture have reached 
a height of perfection which modern 
effort has been unable to attain. In 
those days schools and institutions 
of learning were springs whose 
streams were tinctured with the dom- 
inant taste of the age. Hence the 
artistic spirit and the love for ab- 
stract speculation universally pre- 
vailed. Bacon bv his writings 
pointed out a new and unexplored 
field for study: he taught men to 
pass from the contemplative to the 
■practical: . from form to substance: 
from phenomena to the causes that 
produce them: hp -pointed out that 
the deduction method of reasoning 
was adanted to mire science alone, 
where the transition is from the gen- 
eral to the particular; but that in 



empirical investigations an opposite* 
mode of reasoning must bo employed, 
wherein we rise from an observation - 
of particular changes in individual 
cases to the formulation of a general 
truth and the establishment of a 
general scientific law. Since the days 
of Bacon more attention has been 
given in educational institutions to 
science and its applications; but only 
during the last half century has it 
had its proper place in the curricu- 
lum of many of our leading institu- 
tions. The spirit of the age has 
been for a century growing more and 
more practical and utilitarian; and 
the colleges have found it necessary 
to re-echo the voice of the times. 
Science has been found to be a lamp? 
lighting up the dark recesses where- 
the wealth of the earth is concealed; 
a key to the depositories of nature's- 
treasures; a boon of useful know- 
ledge which gives rich present re- 
wards for the time and labor devoted 
to its acquisition; a tree whose fruit 
ripens and is enjoyed on this side of 
the grave. It is well therefore to 
recognize the existing condition of 
the business and industrial activi- 
ties of the country and to conform 
the education of the young to their 
demands. Mathematics and applied 
science should form a leading part 
in the curriculum of all our colleges 
and universities; and the course of 
study of our grammar and high, 
schools should be preparatory there- 
to. The spread of tne manufacturing 
and industrial spirit in the Northern 
and Eastern States is perhaps greatly 
attributable to the foundation of 
schools of technical arts by men who 
understood their great value in uif- 
fusing among their people a know- 
ledge of the vast resources of nature,, 
and of the means of applying them 
to their own comfort and enrichment. 
As early as 1824 Stephen Van Ren- 
sselear founded the first school of 
science in the United States under 
the name of Rensselaer Polytechnic 
Institute. Mr. Van Rensselaer was a 
man possessed of a vast estate de- 
rived from his ancestor Killian Van 
Rensselaer who came over from Am- 
sterdam and became the proprietor 
and rnler of a large feudal estate in 
New Amsterdam during cue 17th 
Century. Stephen Van Rensselaer 
took a great interest m engineering- 



78 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



works, and was the first to suggest 
the construction of a canal from 
Lake Erie to the Hudson. He caused 
a survey to be made of the rouie, 
and during this and subsequent steps 
in the important enterprise, he was 
so much impressed by the difficulty 
in finding men capable of assisting 
Jaim in his engineering work, that 
he was convinced of the great need 
of scientific and industrial educa- 
tion. 

"His institute has ever since been 
:a distinguished school of civil engin- 
eering and natural science. The Mas- 
sachusetts Institute of Technology at 
Boston is one of the greatest schools 
of science and technology that now 
■exists or has existed in the world. 
It was opened in 1865 by Professor 
William B. Rogers, whose father, Dr. 
Patrick K. Rogers, emigrated in 
1804 from Ireland to Philadelphia, 
where Professor Wiliam B. Rogers 
was born. The Boston Technological 
Institute offers thirteen distinct 
•courses, each of four years duration, 
in all the branches of engineering, 
tiology, physics and naval architec- 
ture. Its diploma is a coveted treas- 
ure, and is a sure passport to success 
in industrial, mechanical and scienti- 
fic pursuits. The present number of 
its students is 1170 with 136 officers 
and instructors. It receives frequent 
donations from public spirited men 
of wealth. During the last few years 
the bequests in its favor have 
amounted to more than one million 
•dollars. 

"There are many other distin- 
guished colleges of technical educa- 
tion in the North, as the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute in Massachu- 
setts; the Lehigh University in Penn- 
sylvania; the Stevens Institute of 
Technology in New Jersey; the Case 
School of Applied Science at Cleve- 
land, Ohio; the Rose Polytechnic In- 
stitute at Terre Haute. Ind.; and the 
Armour Institute of Technology 
founded in Chicago by Phillip D. 
Armour in 1892. These institutions 
were founded by men who had them- 
selves been engaged in industrial and 
mechanical enterprises, and from 
their own experience became con- 
vinced of the necessity of this Kind 
of knowledge, for the development of 
the resources of nature and the con- 
struction of great works for the util- 



ity and convenience of their commun- 
ities. These institutions are devoted 
almost exclusively to scientific and 
mechanical instruction, in civil en- 
gineering, mechanical engineering, 
electrical engineering, mining engin- 
eering, physics, chemistry, architec- 
ture, and general science. 

Our Southern States are also well 
supplied with industrial schools and 
colleges, though few of them are 
equal in equipment to the many 
richly endowed scientific institutions 
of the Northern States. Every State 
and Te.-iitiry has its agricultural ani 
mechanical college endowed by the 
national land grant of 1862. The 
founder of all these inestimable in- 
stitutions is Justin S. Morrill, of Ver- 
mont, whose name should ever shine 
in golden letters in the history of 
American education. Perhaps no 
American has rendered his country a 
greater service. 

Being in accord with the growing 
demand for a new system of college 
education and its adaptation to the 
requirements of the progress of the 
age, his clear perception and practi- 
cal wisdom enabled him to see the 
readiest and surest means of effect- 
ing it. In 1857 he brought before 
Congress a bill authorizing the es- 
tablishment in each State and Terri- 
tory, of colleges for instruction in 
agriculture, mechanics and the lib- 
eral arts, and providing 20,000 acres 
of the public lands for each member 
of Congress for their maintenance. 
The demand seemed stupendous; the 
Public Land Committee was startled 
and reported adversely to it; and al- 
though the bill passed both houses 
at the following session, it was 
prorantly vetoed by the president. 
But Mr. Morrill was a man to over- 
come- obstacles, not to be overcome 
by them. Awaiting a favorable op- 
portunity, he introduced in 1861 a 
npw bill into the house similar to 
hif former one, but increasing the 
provisions for the maintenance of 
each college 30,000 acres of land 
for each senator and congressman 
from the respective States and Terri- 
tories. This bill was successfully 
passed, and was signed by the 
president in 1862. The grant for 
education made by this act 
amounted to 13,000,000 acres of 
land being the greatest ever made 



Held in New Orleans, December q-j, ipoo. 



79 



tor the instruction of the people in 
the history of the world. It proved 
that our government is truly a gov- 
ernment for the people. It was also 
& generous notification of the Ameri- 
can Congress that the character of 
national education should be agri- 
cultural, mechanical, industrial and 
artistic, in addition to, or concomi- 
tant with, the literary and classical 
features it had borne up to tha/" 
time. The act of 1862 was so framed 
as to allow the consolidation of ex- 
isting schools and colleges into new 
ones of the type provided for in the 
grant; and accordingly nearly all the 
Southern States adopted this method 
of conforming to the law, and avail- 
ing themselves of its bounty. Our 
great Louisiana State Agricultural 
and Mechanical College, one of the 
best in the country, owes its exist- 
ence to this and previous land grants 
by the National Government. These 
acts were passed in 1806, 1811 and 
1827. In 1855 the State Legislature 
founded the Louisiana State Semin- 
ary of Learning and Military Acad- 
emy, locating it near Alexandria, in 
the Parish of Rapides. Here the in- 
stitution flourished for a time, but 
-was closed in 1863 on account of the 
war between the States. In 1873 the 
Louisiana State Agricultural and Me- 
chanical College was established by 
act of the State Legislature in order 
to secure the benefit of the Congres- 
sional grant of 1862. It was located 
first at Chalmette, and subsequently 
at New Orleans, were it remained un- 
til 1877, when it was by act of the 
General Assembly consolidated with 
the State University, and in October 
of that year, the two institutions 
thus united into one began the use- 
ful work of the present Louisiana 
State University and Agricultural 
and Mechanical College. The flour- 
ishing condition of this great uni- 
versity and the immense benefit it 
is doing to the agriculture of our 
State is a proof of the practical wis- 
dom of the national congress in pass- 
ing the act of 1862. In all the depart- 
ments of liberal culture the instruc- 
tion is in charge of the most distin- 
guished nrofessors, and the classical 
and English literary training of the 
students is of the highest order. Its 
mathematical department is taught 
and managed by a distinguished au- 



thor of mathematical works highly 
esteemed throughout the country. 
But it is mentioned in this paper 
chiefly because of its excellent ef- 
fect in diffusing a knowledge of im- 
proved methods of the agriculture of 
the State. To be adapted to the local 
needs, a sugar course is carefully 
maintained, and by its means the 
students are made true sugar experts 
to their own profit and the great ad- 
vantage of the State. One of its 
sugar experiment stations is located 
at Audubon Park in this city and 
you are invited to visit it during your 
stay among us, and examine its oper- 
ations upon sugar in the field, labor- 
atory, and the sugar house. A sum- 
mary of the work of this station is 
given in the annual prospectus of the 
University. 

" 'Experiments of a permanent 
character with fertilizers, looking to 
the ultimate solution of the require- 
ments of cane under the various 
forms of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, 
and potash; experiments in culti- 
vation, drainage, and irrigation; and 
experiments in physiological inves- 
tigations, are carried on in the field. 

" 'In the laboratory, exhaustive 
chemical analyses are made of the 
canes and juices in the various stages 
of working, and of the final products 
of sugar and molasses. Microscopic 
investigations are conducted in the 
bacteriological laboratory, looking to 
the elaboration of food in the plant 
in the field, and the study of bac- 
teria at work in the sugar house. 
The study of new seedling canes, in- 
volving those of high sugar content 
and with large tonnage, has been en- 
gaging the attention of the station 
for several years, with satisfactory 
results in the two or three varieties 
now being distributed over the State 
to planters. 

In the sugar house, experiments in 
clarification, filtration, the restrain- 
ing influences of foreign matters 
upon the crystallization of sugar, as 
well as the economical conduct of 
sugar making, are being carried on, 
all checked by chemical control. 

" 'The trial annually, of new ma- 
chinery receives attention and during 
the past season several new filter 
presses and an evaporating apparatus 
were secured and tested. 

"Alfalfa, which has been grown 



80 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



with success at this station, is now 
being cultivated by many planters 
throughout the State, and is becom- 
ing a merchantable crop in the mar- 
kets of New Orleans. Sundry vari- 
eties of clover, corn, sorghum, vege- 
table and forage crops are also 
grown.' 

"The work of the Louisiana State 
University along other lines of farm- 
ing may be understood by further ex- 
tracts from the catalogue of the cur- 
rent year. 

"Outside of New Orleans there are 
two farming stations, under its ad- 
ministration; one m the southern 
part of the State at Baton Rouge, 
styled Station No. 2; and one in the 
northern part of the State, at Cal- 
houn, styled Station No. 3. 

"Station No. 2. 

"This station is devoted to practical 
and scientific studies along all lines 
of agriculture. On the farm numer- 
ous varieties of corn, cotton, and for- 
age crops are grown. Egyptian cotton, 
represented by several varieties that 
came directly from Dr. T. David, of 
Zagazig, Egypt, is annually grown 
and ginned upon a McCarthy roller 
gin, with .the view of studying the ev- 
olution of this cotton upon ou^ soils 
and its adaptation to the wants of 
the manufacturers who to-day are 
using Egyptian cotton in the manu- 
facture of coarse underwear. 

"The growing, curing, and fermen- 
tation of cigar tobacco constitute one 
of the most important lines of ex- 
perimentation now under conduct at 
this station. In the field there are 
experiments under canvas, under 
half shade (laths), and in the open, 
to test the difference in texture of 
the leaf thus grown. There are exper- 
iments also to test fertilizing require- 
ments of cigar tobacco on these soils. 
Numerous varieties are also being 
tested. After curing by different pro- 
cesses, fermentation by different 
methods is Ptud'ed bo f h chemically 
and bactprioloeicariy, to determine 
how the best cigar leaf my be ob- 
tained. 

"In the horticultural department, 
under the control of Prof. F. H. Bur- 
nett, there is to be found nearly 
every variety of vegetables and fruits. 
Important experiments have been 
conducted here, as well as at Cal- 



houn and Audubon Park, to test the 
comparative merits of home grown 
seed versus Northern and Eastern 
grown for use in this State. 

"The veterinary department, under 
the direction of Dr. W. H. Dalrymple, 
has been busily engaged during the 
past year in investigating charbon^ 
glanders, and other contagious dis- 
eases in various parishes of the State. 

"The entomologist, Prof. H. A. Mor- 
gan, has been engaged for the past 
twelve months in studying the life 
history of many new and injurious 
insects, and has recently given to the 
public a bulletin with his results. 

"Interesting experiments, begun 
last season, have been continued up 
to date by Professors Morgan, Dod- 
son and Dalrymple, with a view of 
eradicating and preventing Texas 
cattle fever, and thereDy removing 
the embargo upon Southern stock in 
Northern markets. These experi- 
ments are throwing light on this in- 
teresting subject, and will be per- 
sistently prosecuted until accurate 
conclusions are reached. 

"Station No. 3. 

North Louisiana Experiment Station,, 

Calhoun, La. 

"Numerous experiments in tne 
growing and curing of yellow leaf 
tobacco have been instituted at this 
station. 

"The dairy attracts the attention 
of farmers, and has been instrumen- 
tal in increasing not only the butter 
product, both in quantity and quality, 
but also the growing of better dairy 
stock. Recently registered Herefords 
and some grade Shorthorns have 
been introduced to meet the grow- 
ing demands of this section for 
beef breeds. Later on Red Poles 
will also be introduced. In fact, the 
high nrice of cattle now prevailing 
has ?i ven an imnetus to the growing 
of imnroved dairv and beef stock all 
through this section. 

"A poultrv deoartment, has given 
an increased interest in poultry rais- 
inpv 

"The Sti^ar Plan + ers' Association at 
Audubon Park, the Central Louis- 
inria Agricultural Association at 
B^ton Fonsre and the Northern Lou- 
isiana Agricultural Society at Cal- 
houn, are valuable aids to the sta- 
tions, and the monthly meetings are 



Held in Nezv Orleans, Deccmbci 4-2, 1900. 



81 



well attended. The latter organiza- 
tions toidfi annua'Jy at Ca'.tiouii an 
agricultural camp-meeting and fair, 
which is attended by many thous- 
ands of people, and is productive 
of the largest amount of good. 

"I have presented the work of our 
State University as a specimen of 
what may be done by schools and 
colleges for the development of the 
industrial resources of the State, be- 
cause I am better acquainted with its 
efforts and influence than with 
others; but I know that in other 
Southern States like useful results 
are accomplished by industrial insti- 
tutions for the advancement of the 
material welfare of the people. Tu- 
lane University, here in New Orleans, 
ranks among the foremost institu- 
tions of learning in the United 
States. There are four years courses 
in Mechanical, Chemical, Civil, and 
Architectural Engineering, each 
leading to the degree of Bachelor of 
Engineering. The course of Mechan- 
ical Engineering includes the study 
of Electrical Engineering. Each de- 
partment is furnished with the best 
machines and apparatus for illustra- 
tion; the equipment of the depart- 
ment of electrical engineering is 
hardly equalled by that of any insti- 
tution in the United States; the same 
is to be said of the character of the 
education imparted in every branch 
of modern learning. 

"What the National Government 
has so liberally begun towards the 
promotion of useful practical knowl- 
edge and the encouragement to labor 
and industry among all classes, the 
individual States must continue and 
support. The Congressional appro- 
priation of 1862 can be applied only 
"to instruction in agriculture, the 
mechanic arts, the English language, 
and the various branches of mathe- 
matical, physical, natural, and econ- 
omic sciences, with special reference 
to their applications to the industries 
of life, and to the facilties for such 
instruction, all other expenses must 
be borne by the States or by the in- 
stitutions themselves. It is the duty 
of the State to provide the needed 
buildings and equipments. It has 
been impossible for us to meet this 
demand Murine; the long years of 
blight inflicted upon us by war and 
re-construction; and if you ask me 



what is the best means to secure the 
ends for which this Association has 
been formed, and this Convention is 
held, my answer is strive to diffuse 
industrial education among the peo- 
ple; prevail upon legislatures to con- 
tribute liberally towards the support 
of free institutions for the purpose. 
Elevate labor by making skilled labor 
an object of renumerative education. 
That success in trade in manufac- 
tures depends upon instruction in 
appropriate schools may be illustra- 
ted by a notable example. For this 
purpose I quote a striking fact re- 
lated in an address delivered before 
the State Teacher's Association of 
Pennsylvania in 1874. 

" 'England until 1868 neglected tech- 
nical education, and so fell behind 
the Continent, losing her position in 
the manufacture of many articles. 
The shawl trade of Leeds was absorb- 
ed by continental manufacturers by 
reason of their technical knowledge; 
the silk trade was injured by a sup- 
erior skill in dye and finish on the 
continent; the designers, dyers and 
engravers in foreign countries, by 
possessing a thorough theoretical and 
practical knowledge of their several 
trades, produced greater purity and 
beauty of design, cleaner and bright- 
er colors in the cloth and other fab- 
rics they manufactured, finer pat- 
terns and greater lightness; Conven- 
try ribbons were taken from her; for- 
eign workmen employed as painters 
and designers, and great deficiencies 
existed in those branches of knowl- 
edge which bear most intimately on 
the great departments of industry. 
Alarmed at those discoveries that she 
was losing her supremacy in manu- 
factures, that French companies were 
building locomotives for an English 
railway, and that iron girders for 
a building in Glasgow were being 
constructed in Belgium, she at once 
established technical schools of a 
higher order in the large cities, with 
others of a lower grade in the smaller 
towns. For a single department in 
the art school in South Kensington 
£1,000,000 were expended, and £80,- 
000 annually were given for its sup- 
port by the State. In Queen's Insti- 
tute, Belfast, Ireland, from three 
hundred to four hundred female stu- 
dents were trained in all branches of 
skilled labor, for which taste and 



82 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



physical fitness makes them suitable.' 
"It cannot be doubted that the high 
degree of prosperity obtained by the 
manufacturing and other industrial 
establishments of the United States is 
largely due to the knowledge of ap- 
plied science from their numerous 
technical schools and higher teenno- 
logical colleges. A historical investi- 
gation will show that this wonderful 
addition to our sources of wealth 
came subsequently to the spread of 
a knowledge of practical science. 
In this view the South should aim to 
extend and perfect education of this 
kind among all clases. In European 
countries, children, and men and 
women who work by day in the mills, 
attend lectures and classes in even- 
ing textile schools and on Sundays; 
and to get work in an industrial es- 
tablishment, a previous knowledge of 
the methods and nature of the work 
is required. The close relation of 
cause and effect existing between suc- 
cessful manufacturing interest and 
technical education is shown not only 
by the past admission of those vi- 
tally interested, but from the exper- 
ience of European capitalists at the 
present moment. 

"A special cable to the New York 
Sun dated 24th of November and pub- 
lished in the New Orleans Times- 
Democrat on the 25th says, that there 
is just now a panic prevailing in sev- 
eral important branches of British 
industry on account of the enormous 
growth of American competition, and 
that of Germany, the prominence of 
the latter country in this profitable 
rivalry being ascribed to technical 
education and the training and 
moulding the minds of the young 
for industrial occupations. The tel- 
egraphic dispatch is as follows: — 

" 'London, Nov. 24th.— The Alarm, 
not to say panic, which pre- 
vails in several important branches 
of British industry on account 
of the enormous growth of Ameri- 
can competition now occupies 
the foremost place in public 
attention. It is discussed on all 
platforms by leaders of opinion, and 
it" is the chief topic in the serious 
press. There is not the slightest 
doubt that a thorough awakening of 
manufacturers in nearly all lines has 
already taken place. 

" 'Lord Roseberry last week de- 



livered a strong warning, and 
yesterday Hebert Asquith, M. P. r . 
told the heads of the Cham- 
ber of Commerce what to ex- 
pect. He admitted that the present 
prosperity of Great Britain was un- 
precedented, but he pointed out that 
England was not holding her own,. 
Germany and the United States had 
stepped out from the rear to the front 
rank. Instead of England's enjoying 
the supremacy of trade, as was con- 
fidently predicted half a century ago, 
she was now fighting for every inch. 
of ground with all her available 
strength in every international mar- 
ket. 

" 'Germany, for industrial purposes, 
is not a country favored by Nature,, 
and the rise of Germany into the 
front rank of commercial powers is 
the most remarkable illustration to 
be found of the practical value of 
education, organization and concen- 
tration. The days are happily gone 
when it is safe to indulge in the 
foolish sneer that the German spun. 
and wove from materials supplied 
by his own inner consciousness. The 
same sleepless industry, the same te- 
nacity of purpose, the same training 
and moulding of intelligence for a 
specific end which has given the Ger- 
man in turn, first, military suprem- 
acy, and then political unity, has 
enabled him to overtake, and, if 
we do not mend our ways, will en- 
able him to outrun, his more favored 
rivals in the industrial struggle of 
the world.' " 

"The spirit of agricultural and man- 
ufacturing industry has become more 
and more prevalent in the South dur- 
ing the late years of her re-birth; she 
has shown that she is not deficient in 
talent to learn nor energy and abil- 
ity to do; and to-day she is no con- 
temptible factor in the industrial 
growth and the resulting wealtn of 
the country. It is a delight to the 
friend of the South to reflect that ac- 
cording to the best estimates her 
cotton crop this year will be worth 
from $450,000,000 to $500,000,000, 
against an average of $300,000,000, of 
late years; an increase of from $150.- 
000.000 to $200,000,000. Including the 
seed, the value of the cotton crop 
will 'exceed $500,000,000. 

"Southern mills will consume prob- 
ably 1,750,000 bales, against 1,500,000 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 



sa 



bales last year. This cotton, which 
will cost Southern mills about $75,- 
00U,00U to $80,000,000, will in its man- 
ufactured shape be worth more than 
$225,000,000, tnus adding $150,000,000 
in the process of manufacture. To 
this add an estimate of $100,000,000 as 
the value of cotton seed oil, hulls, 
etc., and it is found that the cotton 
crop this year will yield to the South 
the following: Cotton and seed, 
$500,000,000; added value of cotton 
manufactured in the South, $150,000,- 
000; value of oil and hulls, 'cake, etc., 
for feeding, $100,000,000; total, $750,- 
000,000. 

"The public schools in which the 
great majority of the youth of the 
country are educated, should take 
their part in the work of this new 
education. How is this to be done? 
I answer: By the teaching of draw- 
ing and elementary science in the 
various grades of the grammar 
schools. Elementary schools and 
high schools are the preparatory 
schools and academies that fit pupils 
for the agricultural and mechanical 
colleges, and the higher colleges gen- 
erally; and their course of study 
should be adapted to the altered 
schedule of college work in these 
higher institutions. When the- col- 
leges founded under the land grant of 
1862 were opened, a general com- 
plaint was heard from them that at 
least a year was lost in teaching 
drawing, a knowledge of which 
should have been acquired in the 
primary and grammar schools. A 
graded and progressive course in 
drawing is to-day an essential part 
of the course of study of any ele- 
mentary school worthy of patronage, 
and is necessary tor all children 
whether they are to become artisans 
or artists; whether they are to adopt 
industrial pursuits In mines or mills, 
or to devote themselves to any of the 
forms of engineering, or to archi- 
tecture, painting or sculpture. As a 
preparation for the courses in schools 
of science, drawing is indispensable: 
and this drawing should not consist 
of picture-makine:. but should be of 
an industrial character, based on 
geometry. Mathematics and science 
should, in my om'nion, he made the 
basis of all education, and all other 
studies should be made subordinate 



to them. In the primary and gram- 
mar schools, arithmetic, drawing and 
science should be taught by steps 
suited to the age of the children, and 
the same ranking should be attixed 
to these studies in the high schools 
and academies. Any pupil not stupid 
will learn to spell and speak cor- 
rectly by habitual use of books and 
newspapers; for these are surface 
studies; but he will never know the. 
nature of air, water and solids with- 
out being taught. 

"Steam, electricity , the telegraph,, 
tne telephone, heating by hot air and 
hot water, and the like, should be 
known to all school children, and as 
the- great majority are in school only 
five or six years, how are they ever 
to learn these things unless they are 
taught them in the schools. 

"In conclusion I advance the opin- 
ion expressed throughout this paper,, 
that the best means that can be em- 
ployed to secure the objects of this in- 
dustrial association in building up tne 
trade and industries of the South, 
and helping her onward in the path 
she has already entered, is to foster 
industrial educational institutions, 
and to shape the general instruction 
of Southern children so as to give 
them a knowledge of the applica- 
tions of science, and instill into their 
minds an early interest in industrial 
pursuits. 

Urge legislatures to be liberal in 
their appropriations for these pur- 
poses. 

To our men of great wealth I would 
say, that a certain American who by 
successful manufacturing amassed a 
large fortune, is reported in the news- 
papers of the day as giving a million 
of dollars in bonds producing $50,- 
000 a year for the support of a tech- 
nical school; thus proving that he is 
not only a great man. but also a good 
man. Go thou and do likewise." 
(Applause.) 

Prof. R. B. Fulton: I have 
the honor to present the following 
reoort as chairman of your commit- 
tee on technical education, with the 
recommendation that the report and 
resolutions contained therein be 
adopted by this convention: 



84 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



EEPOET OF COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 



Your Committee on Technical ed- 
ucation respectfully submits the fol- 
lowing reports and resolutions, and 
recommends their adoption by this 
Convention: 

Resolved: 

1. That the Southern Industrial 
Convention places on record this ex- 
pression of its full appreciation of 
the importance and value of the 
sound and thorough education of all 
the youth of our land in useful 
branches of learning. Being fully 
assured that the best education for 
any individual is that which best fits 
him to discharge the duties and to 
meet the opportunities and responsi- 
bilities that shall come to him in 
life, we recognize in the dawning of 
the era of industrial development in 
our section the paramount import- 
ance of so adapting and organizing 
the training offered in our schools 
as to afford the fullest opportunity 
for the cultivation of every talent 
that may be used in promoting the 
material prosperity of our section. 

Without diminishing in any partic- 
ular the facilities for culture now of- 
fered in our schools, we believe that 
greater emphasis should be laid upon 
industrial and technical training as 
means for cultivating character and 
giving individual power, as well as 
for promoting social order and the 
development of material resources. 

2. This form of education, helpf'il 
to so many lives, should feel in full- 
est measure all the influences which 
give vitality and power and dignity 
to educational work of every grade. 
We, therefore, heartily indorse all 
efforts made to establish and main- 
tain technical schools of every rank 
in the South, especially those in 
which shall be taught the arts and 
sciences bearing upon the conversion 



of our material resources into useful 
fabrics. 

'6. In furtherance of this, we re- 
quest the President of this Conven- 
tion to appoint a committee, con- 
sisting of one from each State here 
represented, who, together with >.ne 
President and the Secretary of this 
Convention shall again present to 
the Congress of the United States the 
memorial of this Convention urging 
that a sum of not loss than one mil- 
lion dollars be appropriated out of 
the proceeds of the sales of public 
lands for the maintenance of a school 
of the highest rank in which the 
properties, the manufacture and the 
uses of the fibres produced in this 
country shall be specially studied 
and taught. 

4. Realizing that all the physical 
resources of the Southern States are 
offering full opportunity for the full- 
est development that science and art 
can give to matter, and that in our 
young manhood and womanhood is 
latent power able to worthily meet 
these industrial conditions, as their 
fathers have met and solved the 
grave social and political problems 
that have come to us in the past, we 
recognize the wide field of usefulness 
that is now open to any institution 
in the South which may be furnished 
with such ample means for investiga- 
tion, as well as for teaching and il- 
lustration, as will place it above and 
beyond existing institutions in the 
scope of its work, and in a position to 
serve as a beacon and guide for all 
technical education in our section, 
and we consider wealth contrib^^d 
to this use as being vested for the 
public welfare. 

PROP. R. B. FULTON, 
University of Miss. 
Chairman. 



EEPOET OF COMMITTEE ON TEADE SCHOOLS. 



Mr. V. W. Grubbs. of Texas: 
Gentlemen, I may say I did not have 
the honor of drawing up the follow- 
ing resolutions, but I have been re- 
quested to submit them as an addi- 
tion or amendment to the Commit- 
tee's report. I would simply say that 
in drawing up this word "girls" was 



omitted, and I have taken the lib- 
erty of supplying it. (Laughter and 
applause.)' 

This question of the establishment 
of such schools for both sexes is a 
very important one, and I will now 
read you these additional resolu- 
tions: 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



85 



Resolved: In accordance with tne 
suggestion of President Lyman Hall 
of the Georgia School of Technology 
in his address on Technical Educa- 
tion, before the Southern Industrial 
Convention, now assembled at New 
Orleans: 

I. That it is the sense of this Con- 
vention that trade schools and 
schools of technology are imperative 
essentials in the future development 
of the Southern States. 

II. That the Governors of our 
Southern States be requested by tnis 
Convention to insist, in their mes- 
sages to their Legislatures, on lib- 
eral appropriations to practical h.^-. 
scientific education. 

III. That the cities in the South 
are hereby urged to establish manual 
training and trade schools for boys 
and girls between the ages of 14 and 
18. 

IV. That copies of these resolu- 
tions be forwarded to the Governors 
of all Southern Statu* and to the 
Mayors of all Southern Cities. 

V. W. GRUBBS. 
President of the Southern Board of 
Industrial Education. 

President Hargrove: You have 
heard the report as amended, gentle- 
men; what is your pleasure? 

Adopted unanimously. 

President Hargrove announced the 
next paper, as there appeared to be 
no disposition on the part of the 
delegates to discuss the subject of 
technical education, but at this point 
Mayor Welch, of Alexandria, La., 
rose. 

Mayor "Welch: Gentlemen, I have 
something to say on this question — 

President Hargrove: We have al- 
ready proceeded to the next part of 
the program, and I rule discussion 
of this question as out of order. 

Mr. Ousley, of Texas: I contend 
that anything in the nature of dis- 
cussion on technical or textile edu- 
cation is in order. 

Dr. Hall: I move that discussion 
on the subject of technical education 
be now opened. This was seconded. 

At this juncture it was suggested 
that the Convention reconsider its 
action in adopting the report on 
technical education. 

Mr. Charleton Hunt: I appeal to 
this Convention for an opportunity 



to discuss this important question, 
The chair cannot arbitrarily rule 
such discussion out of order. We 
have listened to instructive papers on 
the subject of technical education^ 
and the subject should now be dis- 
cussed by the Convention. 

President Hargrove: The report 
and resolutions on this subject have 
already been adopted, and, therefore, 
to commence to discuss the question 
now is entirely out of order, but as 
it seems to be the desire of many 
present that this discussion be re- 
opened, I bow to your will in this 
matter. I am your servant, gentlemen,, 
and if my action in this matter has 
appeared in any way arbitrary it 
has been solely dictated by a desire 
to facilitate the business of this Con- 
vention, and to conscientiously dis- 
charge my duty as chairman. If I 
have erred in any respect, I can only 
assure you that the error has been 
one of the head and not of the heart. 
(Applause.) I rule that this subject 
may be discussed now, and tnat any 
gentleman may talk thereon as long 
as the audience is willing to hear 
him. 

Mayor Welch, (of Louisiana) : I 
understand that this body has as- 
sembled here to formulate plans and 
put them into execution. We must 
carry out what resolutions we .plan. 
What we require in Louisiana is the 
foundation for a textile school, and 
I am here on behalf of the people of 
Alexandria to offer whatever ground 
may be required for this purpose, 
and will provide the building without 
cost to the State, also water and light 
for a term of five years; provided, a 
sufficient appropriation is made to 
maintain the institution in first-class 
order. (Applause.)^ 

Mr. Hunt: Mr. President and Gen- 
tlemen: 1 wish to congratulate the 
gentleman who has just taken his 
seat for being so practical, and it was 
my hope that I might be able to add 
something practical to this discussion 
which induced me to seek the floor 
and no disposition to make issue with 
the chair. The difficulty which lies 
at the very root of this matter is the 
present school system, or rather, 
want of system. The German and 
French schools are ahead of the 
American schools in this respect, and 
just as the German and French are 



:36 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention,. 



ahead of the American, so are the 
-New England schools ahead of 
•our Southern schools. Elementary 
science teaching must be introduced 
into the normal schools and more 
English taught. Then you can look 
to the time when you can begin to 
think of technical education. A man 
cannot be taught technical subjects 
unless he is acquainted with elemen- 
tary science. The student must be 
cultivated in this respect in order to 
fit him for a more advanced tech- 
nical course. (Applause.) 

Attention was here called to the 
five-minute rule made by the Con- 
vention, and although an extension 
was asked for, the Convention de- 
cided that no exception to this rule 
be made. 

Mr. V. W. Grubbs: You may build 
industrial colleges and you may es- 
tablish a curriculum in your public 
schools, but unless public sentiment 
is behind it, nothing will be accom- 
plished. My experience with the A. 
and M. College of Texas, bears out 
this assertion. A number of boys 
were lined up and asked "how many 
•of you boys want to oe blacksmiths, 
mechanics or machinists?" Not a 
hand was held up in response to thi- 
question, but when asked "how many 
of you boys wish to become lawyers, 
doctors or some other of the pro- 
fessions," all the boys held up their 
hands. They all want to be profes- 
sional men, and seem to think that 
the ordinary mechanical avocations 
are beneath the consideration of the 
young man who wishes to esteem 
himself educated. The first thins: 
we must do is to inspire a demand 
by people of all classes for these in- 
stitutions, and it must be accom- 
plished by organization. One of the 
most potent influences in our efforts 
to organize was the energetic Gover- 
nor of the State of Texas, and the 
State Legislature, which indorsed by 
a unanimous vote the establishment 
of industrial schools for the white 
Taoys and girls of the State of Texas, 
and they are the best that can be 
found. 

Dr. Lyman Hall: I agree with the 
remarks of the last speaker, that we 
must cultivate a sentiment in favor 
of industrial work in our children. 
"We found that to be the case in Geor- 
gia, when we established the School 



of Technology in Atlanta. In a cer- 
tain agricultural and mechanical col- 
lege in the South, the mechanical 
course was so involved with the agri- 
cultural and other courses that the 
graduates failed to obtain the full 
value of the mechanical and engi- 
neering courses, and though there 
were many graduates, I understand 
that there is not a single one of them 
now engaged in mechanical engi- 
neering. 

Mr. Cobb, of Florida: As an illus- 
tration of what has been said in 
regard to the value of technical ed- 
ucation, I may mention that I have 
two nephews, young men of equal 
ability. One of them was a gradu- 
ate of the Massachusetts School of 
Technology, and is earning $100 a 
month in Pennsylvania. The other 
with no technical education and only 
his hustling qualities is working a 
short distance from the first, and 
only earning half that salary. 

Mr. H. Austill, of Mobile: I heart- 
ily indorse the resolutions that this 
Convention has adopted calling upon 
the various States to establish tech- 
nical schools. I can allude to the 
experience of Alabama in regard to 
the establishment of an industrial 
school for girls. We are now knock- 
ing at the doors of the Legislature 
and asking for $100,000 to complete 
the great industrial school of Aia- 
bamr. The public sentiment of the 
South is in favor of having such 
schools, and I say that to call upon 
State Governors for Appropriations is 
in line with public sentiment, for 
the people are ready, the young peo- 
ple of the South are ready for S'lch 
schools, so let us establish them, and 
give them an opportunity to enter. 
(Applause.) 

This closed the discussion, and it 
was moved, seconded and carried, 
that the regular programme be now 
proceeded with. 

President Hargrove: I wish to an- 
nounce the following additional 
chairmen of committees: Re°l 17 '-- 
tate, Mr. W. C. H. Robinson; Pre=s. 
Mr. Erwin Craighead; Railroads, Mr. 
Geo. C. Power. 

The hour being 1 P. M.. the Con- 
vention then adjourned until 2 P. M. 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION. 



ST 



President Hargrove called the af- 
ternoon session to order at 2:30 P. 
M., and announced tnat a short time 
had been granted to gentlemen rep- 
resenting fairs and expositions to 
outline their projects. 



W. J. Cameron, of Birmingham: L 
simply desire to offer to this Asso- 
ciation a short resolution with ref- 
erence to an International Industrial, 
Mineral and Metallic Exposition pro- 
posed to be held in Birmingham in. 
1904. It is as follows: 



BIRMINGHAM EXPOSITION 



New Orleans, La., Dec. 4, 1900. 
Whereas, Birmingham, Alabama, 
the coal, iron and steel center of the 
South intends holding an Interna- 
tional Industrial, Mineral and Metal- 
ic Exposition in the fall of 1904 in 
order to display to the world, and 
especially to the countries tributary 
to the Nicaragua^ Canal the fact 
that all articles inco which iron and 
steel enter can be produced cheaper 



in the Birmingham district that any 
other known point in the United 
States; therefore be it 

Resolved, That this Convention in- 
dorses the enterprise of the citizens 
of Birmingham ana of the State of 
Alabama, and pledges to them its 
hearty co-operation and support in. 
this laudable undertaking. 

Mobile seconded the resolution,. 
which was carried. 



ST. LOUIS EXPOSITION. 



Lieut. Gov. -Elect Lee, of Missouri, 
sent up the following resolution: 

"Whereas the States included in 
the Louisiana Purchase, naving in 
convention assembled, provided by 
unanimous conjoint action that the 
centennial anniversary of the Louisi- 
ana Purchase be properly and appro- 
priately celebrated and commemo- 
rated, and that- such celebration oc- 
cur in the year 1903. the hundredth 
anniversary of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase, and that it be in the form of 
a great world's industrial exposition, 
to be held in the State of Missouri, 
and the City of St. Louis. 

Be it Resolved, That the delegates 
and members of the Southern Indus- 
trial Convention here assembled, ue- 
ing informed that such progress has 
been made in organizing and finan- 
cing the enterprise by the City of St. 
Louis, and the State of Missouri, as 
assures the success of the celebration 
and world's fair, hereby heartily in- 
dorse the undertaking and urge not 
only upon all the States of the Lou- 
isiana Purchase, but upon all tho 
Southern States. Cities and manufac- 
turers, especially to give to the en- 
terprise their hearty approval, advo- 
cacy and co-operation, in order that 



the industrial development of the 
South and West may be practically 
placed before the world's people, and. 
that the grand achievement of the 
greatest statesman of modern times, 
Thomas Jefferson, De properly cele- 
brated, and his memory crowned." 

Lieut. Gov.-Elect Lee speaking in 
support or this resolution said: For 
this exposition an appropriation has 
been made by Congress of $5,000,000, 
the City of St. Louis has voted $5,- 
000,000, and the people of the State 
of Missouri have subscribed $1,000.- 
000: therefore, we have practically 
$1.6,000,000 appropriated for it. (Ap- 
plause.) This exposition is intended 
to be such an industrial exposition 
that the people of the civilized world 
will come to see it. St. Louis is a 
city of the South, Southern: of the 
West, Western: of the East, East- 
ern, and of the North. Northern. We 
ask of this Convention that your 
heart go with your hands with us in 
this enterprise, and that your ap- 
proval be sanctioned by the God- 
speed of this Convention. (Ap- 
plause.) 

Mr. George Anderson. Secretary of 
the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce, 
requested that the resolution be read' 



S8 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



again, which was done by the Sec- 
retary. 

Mr. Anderson: Mr. Chairman, I 
beg your indulgence for just a sec- 
ond. I submit to the gentleman who 
has just spoken, as to whether simply 
the Southern States are to be asked 
to help in this. I come from Penn- 
sylvania, and I would suggest that 
the co-operation of the Northern 
cities be invited as well. 

President Hargrove: This is a 
Southern Convention and it cannot 
very well assume the risk to speak 
for other cities. 

Lieut. Gov. Lee: I can assure the 
gentleman from Pittsburg that he 
need not worry, as it is our inten- 
tion to call upon Pennsylvania and 
every other State in the Union, for 
their indorsement. 

The resolution was then adopted 
unanimously.- 

President Hargrove: Is the 
Charleston delegation present? If 



not, is the delegation from Buffalo 
here? 

The representatives from Charles- 
ton and Buffalo not being present, 
the subject was passed. 

President Hargrove then an- 
nounced the appointment of the fol- 
lowing Committee on Agriculture: 

Prof W. C. Stubbs, of Louisiana, 
Chairman; Mr. J. B. Killebrew, Ten- 
nessee; Dr. V. E. Oates, Mississippi; 
Mr. J. P. Adams, Louisiana; Col. 
R. R. Poole, Alabama; Major J. G. 
Lee, Louisiana; Hon. Frank Hill, Ar- 
kansas; Governor Norman J. Cole- 
man, Missouri; Hon. John Dymond, 
Louisiana; Mr. E. W. Kirkpatrick, 
Texas; Mr. A. V. Eastman, Louisi- 
ana; Dr. H. E. StockDridge, Florida; 
Judge Emile Rost, Louisiana; Mr. 
W. B. Smith Whaley, South Caro- 
lina; Col. Chas. Schuler, Louisi' ia; 
General John B. Gordon, Georgia. 

The regular programme was then 
resumed. 



THE RAILROADS OF THE SOUTH AND SOUTHERN 
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 

BY HON. SAFFOLD BERNEY. 



Hon. Safford Berney introduced: 
Hon. Saffold Berney, of Mobile, 
Ala., read the following paper on 
"The Railroads of the South and 
Southern Industrial Development." 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the 
Convention: 

You can well appreciate the dif- 
fidence with which I stand here to- 
day, on sort notice, to act as the sub- 
stitute of Mr. Fish, the President of 
the Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
pany, to address you on the subject 
of "The Railroads of the South, and 
Southern Industrial Development." 

To what fortuitous circumstance I 
am indebted for the compliment, I 
do not know, unless it be because 
■of my connections with another great 
railroad line — the Mobile and Ohio. 
and the further fact that when a 
younger man I compiled and pub- 
lished a modest brochure of the in- 
dustries and resources of the State 
of Alabama. 
Now, gentlemen, as you all know, 



Mr. Fish is one of the most distin- 
guished, able and best informed men 
of the country, and the head of one 
of its greatest railroads, and were he 
here to-day, I am sure that he would 
present the subject to you with a 
force and grasp entirely beyond my 
humble powers, under the most fav- 
orable auspices. 

And, although I know it to be baa 
to begin with an apology, I think it 
only simple justice to myself to state 
that while I am deeply sensible to 
the compliment paid me, and thank 
the gentlemen whose courtesy I am 
indebted, the invitation reached me 
at so late a day it has been impossi- 
ble for me to gather the data essen- 
tial to a proper presentation of a sub- _ 
ject so broad, interesting and of such 
vital importance, and for the same 
reason the Convention must pardon 
me for treating the subject so largely 
from an Alabama standpoint, as the 
flata regarding the other Southern 
States was not at hand, and I did not 
have time to collect it. However, the 



Held in N-ew. Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



89 



subject can be very well illustrated 
by a review of the progress which 
Alabama has made since the war, in 
the great work of the development ox 
her industries and resources, because 
what is true of Alabama in this con- 
nection, is equally true of all tne 
Southern States; their growth and 
development on industrial lines, smce 
that time having equalled, if not sur- 
passed, Alabama. 

In 1865 the South emerged from 
the fiery crucible of a four years' 
war — desolate and impoverished. 
With fences fallen down, crops de- 
stroyed, fields abandoned and grown 
up in sedge, stock gone, railroads 
torn up and destroyed, industries 
paralyzed, a well-ordered and disci- 
plined slave labor given place to a 
demoralized and unreliable free, with 
many of her bravest and best, sleep- 
ing where the hail of battle had cut 
them down, or in the quiet home 
cemeteries to which loving hands had 
transferred their remains, with all 
about her the destruction that ever 
attends the tread of contending ar- 
mies, and with gloom and distrust 
filling the land, her people set about 
the difficult task of recuperation and 
to bring order out of chaos. 

In 1865 the South had but a few 
short lines of railroads. Many of us 
know the character and physical con- 
dition of those railroads at that time. 
In most instances the ravages of war 
had left them as General Gordon 
very forcibly expressed it on yester- 
day, little more than streaks of rust 
in the grass. Widely separated, of 
varying gauges, and all, or nearly all 
under separate and distinct adminis- 
trations; with shaky and unballasted 
road-beds, like an old fashioned iron 
rail, wood burning engine, hand 
brakes that took the strength of a 
Hercules to wind them up, time slow, 
connections uncertain, depots even in 
the same city far apart, and requir- 
ing transfer in vehicles, freight ser- 
vice unreliable, quick freight dis- 
patch unknown, and with a traffic of 
rates almost prohibitive — such were 
the railroads of the South at the close 
of the war. 

What a different picture the year 
1900 presents. To-day many great 
systems of railroads traverse our 
Southern country, affording almost 
every section the means of quick, re- 



liable and safe transportation. With 
solid, stable, and in many instances, 
well ballasted road-Deds, heavy steel 
rails of the most improved patterns, 
union depots, quick and reliable time 
for both freight and passengers, sure 
and close connections, heavy coal- 
burning engines, freight cars of from 
sixty to one hundred thousand 
pounds capacity, low and constantly 
diminishing freight rates, the rail- 
roads of to-day have been the chief 
factors in the material development 
of the South since 1865. So much for 
the railroad. Now a few words in 
regard to the South's industrial de- 
velopment since the war, in some 
lines: 

Coal. 
The South is essentially rich in 
those twin powers — coal and iron, to 
whose agencies the world owes much 
of its civilization and material ad- 
vancement. In Alabama the meas- 
ures of bituminous coal are a source 
of great and almost inexhaustible 
wealth, and incite surprise whenever 
inquired into, both by reason of their 
extent, and the quality of the coal 
they contain. 

A knowledge of the State's im- 
mense hidden wealth in this re- 
spect began to dawn upon her 
people only a little more than 
a half century ago, for the ear- 
liest mention of the existence 
of coal in the State occurs about that 
time, in the first field notes of some 
of the county surveyors, wno spoke 
of having encountered a black sub- 
stance which resembled coal. About 
that time also, a physician, writing 
from the City of Mobile, spoke of us- 
ing Alabama coal in his "little labo- 
ratory," and finding it "in every re- 
spect equal, if not superior, to tne 
best English coal," and says "it is 
brought down to Mobile from Tusca- 
loosa in flat-bottomed boats, and sold 
at the same price as Liverpool coal, 
or, at from $1.00 to $1.50 pr barrel." 
A few years later the eminent State 
Geologist witnessed the novel method 
of diving for coal in Alabama, and 
described the primitive and amusing 
process. The first attempt at regular 
coal mining in the State was in 1849, 
200 persons being engaged in the coal 
trade of the State, at that time, and 
taking the bulk of the coal from the 
bed of the Warrior River and other 



90 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention 



streams, where, of course, operations 
could go on only during the low 
stages of the water, the coal being 
floated down the streams in flat- 
boats. 

The industry progressed slowly 
before, during and for a number of 
years after the war/ and it was not 
until the completion of the Selma, 
Rome & Dalton Railroad, (now a 
part of the great Southern Railway 
System); the South and North Ala- 
bama <& Chattanooga Railroad, (now 
equally great system, the Louisville 
& Nashville Railroad) ; and the Ala- 
bama & Chattanooga Railroad, (now 
the Alabama Great Southern Rail- 
road), all traversing, more or less, 
the mineral region of the State, that 
it assumed anything like its present 
proportions. 

In 1870 the coal output in Alabama 
was 13,200 tons; and as late as 1874, 
the increase in the State's produc- 
tion was attributed by a then mine 
owner to the fact that "the South 
and North Railroad is using coal as 
fuel," and another writer of the time 
plaintively said "could we but in- 
duce our iron-masters to use our 
coal, either in its raw state or man- 
ufactured into coke, nothing forbids 
our springing into position as one 
of the first coal producing States of 
the Union." A prophecy which has 
been literally fulfilled. 

In the calendar year 1899, the Out- 
put of coal in Alabama was 7,593,416 
tons, and it is estimated that the 
State's output for the calendar year 
1900, will be 9,000,000 tons, and still 
the coal mining industry in the State 
can hardly be said to have passed. its 
infancy. What will it be when it has 
reached its full stature? 

The coal development in the other 
Southern States during the last de- 
cade or so has been equally as great, 
if not greater. In West Virginia the 
output in 1880 was 1,829,844 tons; in 
1899 it was 19,252,995 tons. In Vir- 
ginia the output in 1S80 was 2,559 
tons; in 1899 it was 2,105,791 tons. 
In Kentucky the output in 1880 was 
946.288 tons; in 1899 it was 4.607,255 
tons. In Tennessee, in 1880, the out- 
put was 641,142 tons; in 1889 it was 
3.330,659 tons. In Missouri, in 1880, 
the output was 844,304 tons; in 1899 
It was 3,025,814 tons. In Texas, by 



the tenth census, which covers the 
year ending June 30th, 1880, there 
was no coal production; in 1&99, the 
output was 883,832 tons. In Arkan- 
sas the output in 1880 was 14,778 
tons; in 188-9 it was 843,554 tons. 

In this great development the rail- 
roads have been the chief factor — 
in the extension of their main lines 
and in the building of innumerable 
branches to reach the coal measures 
and mines and to furnish transpor- 
tation for the products thereof to the 
various markets of the United States 
and to the tide-water. And in this 
connection, and as an illustration di- 
rectly in point of what the railroads 
have done and are doing for the de- 
velopment of the coal industry of 
the South, I may say here in pass- 
ing that I am informed that the 
Southern Railway Company has buuu 
a transfer pier at Greenville, Miss., 
to give Alabama shippers the lower 
Mississippi River trade, and nave a 
line of barges in the trade along the 
river to aid and assist in tnis' direc- 
tion the competition of Alabama coal 
with the Pittsburg product; that the 
coal companies of Alabama have now 
secured reliable and cheap transpor- 
tation for their coal, and Louisiana 
is reaping the benefit of it in a cheap 
and excellent supply for its great 
sugar factories; and I have no don 
that this beautiful and interesting 
City of New Orleans, at once the 
pride and glory of the South, its 
chief emporium and greatest mar- 
ket, will share in the benefit to be 
derived from cheap Alabama coal for 
manufacturing purposes, and will be- 
come some day, as great in manufac- 
turing as she is nuw in a commer- 
cial way. (Applause.) 1 

Iron. 

Turning now to that other great 
factor in the world's progress— iron, 
we find that its development in Ala- 
bama and the other Southern States 
has kept pace with that of coal. 

I greatly regret that the limited 
time at my disposal has not enabled 
me to acquire the data necessary to 
speak of the iron development in the 
other Southern States, and I must 
therefore confine my remarks to Ala- 
bama. 

In the extent and quality of its 
iron deposits, Alabama is unques- 



Held in Nciv Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



91 



tionably one of the richest States of 
the Union. What is known as the 
Red Mountain deposit, is one of the 
mineral wonders of the world. This 
vast bed of fossillferous ore runs 
from a point a few miles east of 
Tuscaloosa to the northeastern limit 
of the State, and is said to be 100 
miles in length, by from half a mile 
to a mile in width; and the stratum 
at the point where it is intersected 
by the South and North Alabama 
Railroad, is about 30 feet in thick- 
ness. 

This great deposit is now reached 
•by a number of railroads, with their 
main lines and numerous branches, 
affording the furnaces of the State 
transportation facilities of the first 
■order. 

In 1865, very little pig iron was 
manufactured in Alabama; and so 
late as 1876, the annual production 
was but 24,732 tons. 

In 1899 the production was 1,083,- 
905 tons. ' 

Cotton Mills. 
Turning now from the mineral 
world to the manufacturing, I will 
next briefly speak of cotton manu- 
facturing in the South. In this line, 
we find the development as remark- 
able as that of coal and iron. 

The South, especially the cotton 
States, is the natural situs of the cot- 
ton mill, and, in he judgment of 
many well-informed men, it is only 
a question of time when she will 
do the bulk of cotton manufacturing, 
especially of the heavier and coarser 
goods, yarns in skein, and in warps, 
carpet twine and rope, etc. I have 
not space or time to speak here of 
the profits of this industry, or of the 
reasons which have contributed to 
its growth — such as proximity of th° 
raw material and of cheap coal for 
steam purposes, cheap and tractable 
labor, mild climate, nor of the ben- 
efits to accrue to the State from the 
building of cotton mills, in the em- 
ployment of its people and the in- 
crease of its wealth — but only of its 
growth. And here again, for the 
reason already stated, namely: want 
of time to gather the necessary data 
regarding the other Southern States, 
I must confine myself almost ex- 
clusively to cotton manufacturing in 
Alabama; but as I have stated above, 
of coal and iron, what is true of Ala- 



bama in respect to cotton manufac- 
turing is equally true of the other 
Southern States. 

In 1870, there were only thirteen 
small cotton and woollen mills in 
Alabama, located on streams afford- 
ing water power, and remote from 
transportation, and employing about 
1,000 hands, whose annual wages 
• amounted to about $200,000. To-day 
(1890) there are in operation in the 
State forty such mills, having 55u,- 
\939 spindles, and 13,7*3 looms. 

I have not the data for comparison 
as regards the other Southern States 
and can state only the number of 
mills, spindles and looms in 1890, in 
such of them as have shown the 
greatest increase, as reported by the 
Manufacturer's Record, of Baltimore,, 
of date February 22nd, 1900. These* 
are as follows:) 

In Georgia, mills, 100; spindles, 1,- 
115,556; looms, 27,168. Mississippi, 
mills, 14; spindles, 119,254; looms, 
3,333. North Carolina, mills, 209; 
spindles, 1,424,581; looms, 34,942. 
South Carolina, mills, 105; spindles, 
1,857,036; looms, 51,851. Tennessee, 
mills, 27; spindles, 178,520; looms, 3,- 
732. It will be seen from these fig- 
ures that the old North State is en- 
titled to the banner as regards the 
number of its mills; but that South 
Carolina is ahead of her in spindles 
and looms, with Georgia pressing 
close behind and Alabama making a 
very creditable showing. 

Lumber, Timber, Coke, Lime, Naval 
Stores, Phosphates, Marble, and 
Market and Fruit Gardening. 

The growth of these industries in 
the South has kept pace with the 
development of the mineral resources 
of the South, owing to the aid and 
encouragement extended them by tae 
railroads and cheap railroad trans- 
portation to the markets of this 
country and the outside world. 

It is impossible to give statistics 
concerning these industries as none 
such are kept. We all know, how- 
ever, how truck and fruit gardening 
in the South, for Northern, Eastern 
and Western markets has grown, un- 
der the fostering care of the rail- 
roads, and by reason of quick and re- 
liable dispatch and low rates of 
freight; and the shipments of lumber 
and timber from the Atlantic and 



92 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



Gulf ports, have greatly increased in 
volume, for similar reasons, until tu 
day there is shipped annually from 
the Port of Mobile about 300,000,000 
feet, and from the Port of Pensacola 
about 400,000,000 feet. 

I fear I have bored you, gentle- 
men, with an array of dreary figures, 
but dreary as they may be, they are 
full of hope and encouragement, and 
foreshadow a glorious future for our 
Southern country, and must convince 
us that, remarkable as has been the 
progress in the past in the develop- 
ment of the South's wonderful natural 
resources and her manufacturing in- 
dustries, there does not seem to be 
a doubt that the future has in store 
for us even grander things, and that 
in this development, as in the past, 



the railroads will be the most potent 
factors. (Applause.) 

Mr. George C. Power, Chairman of 
the Committee on Railroads then 
submitted the following report: 

Whereas, the railroads of the 
South are heartily in accord with the 
objects proposed to be accomplished 
by this Convention; be it 

Resolved, That they pledge their 
earnest and persistent support in aid 
of all measures destined to advance 
the material development of the 
South along all practical lines. 

After some random discussion as 
t*.j whether the railroads were, or 
were not, opposed to the Nicaragua 
Canal project, it was finally declared 
that they were not, and the report as 
read was unanimously adopted. 



WIDER MARKETS FOR THE SOUTH. 

BY HON. F. B. THURBER, 

President United States Export Association. 



President Hargrove: The next 
speaker on the programme is Mr. 
F. B. Thurber, President, United 
States Expert Association, who will 
address you on the subject "Wider 
Markets for the South." 

Mr. F. B. Thurber, before pro- 
ceeding to read this paper said: I 
feel that I have almost as many 
friends in the South as in the North, 
and am therefore glad to be with you 
and feel quite at home in addressing 
the Southern Industrial Convention. 
It is Bacon who said that "Reading 
maketh a full man, conference a 
ready man and writing an exact 
man." Therefore, I have committed 
what I have to say to you to paper 
so as to clearly marshal the facts. 

Mr. Thurber then proceeded to read 
the following paper: 

Wider Markets for the South. 

Up to beginning of the last half 
of the present century it was the 
pastoral or agricultural age, but 
then, with the advent of steam, elec- 
tricity and machinery, it became the 
industrial age. 

It has taken the people of the 
Southern States nearly fifty years to 
realize this fact and that in her for- 
ests, mines and factories the South 
has resources which m the next fifty 



years will equal, if not outstrip in- 
value, those of her fertile fieius, of 
which it is literally true: 

"Tickle them with a spade and they 
will laugh a harvest." 

With such resources in agriculture 
it was perhaps natural that they 
should overlook their other advan- 
tages and allow less favored sections 
of our country to take the lead in 
the march of industry. There may 
be other reasons also, but certainly it 
is that up to very recently a majority 
in the South have been governed by 
political traditions and shiboletns 
that are "has beens." 

The words "protection" and "sub- 
sidy," owing to abuses of these good 
words, have jarred on many ears 
both North and South, but especially 
on those of Southern statesmen, until 
the logic of events in other countries 
and other sections has forced them 
to look on both sides of the question. 
This is evidenced by a debate in the 
Senate of the United States, Febru- 
ary 16, 1900. 

When the Postal Appropriation 
Bill was under discussion, the sub- 
ject of a special appropriation for 
fast railway mail service between the 
North and South was under consid- 
eration, and the following remarks of 



Held 



Nezv Orleans, December 4-7, ^igoo. 



93 



Southern Senators are notable (see 
pp. 2086 and 2089 of Congressional 
Jlecord.) . 

Mr. Sullivan, of Mississippi: "I 
have taken pains to investigate and 
to find out and to know that with- 
out this subsidy we cannot get- this 
service, and every other section of 
the country has the same service mat 
we now ask." 

Mr. Money, of Mississippi, said: 
''As a matter of fact I am one of 
those who favor this amendment, not 
^because I am a friend of the railroads, 
but because I have numberless let- 
ters from cities and from business 
firms, from chambers of commerce, 
and everything else from here to New 
Orleans, asking me to stand by the 
appropriation. 

"Now I want to say that I am a 
little more familiar, perhaps, with 
this particular subject-matter than a 
great many others who are here be- 
fore me. When I was chairman of 
the Post Office Committee of the 
House, about twenty years ago, in 
conjunction with the Post Office De- 
partment, I began to see what could 
be done to institute fast mails over 
the whole of the United States or to 
improve the facilities on the trunk 
lines, as they are called. I myself,, 
and the Department also, engaged in 
a large correspondence, and I recol- 
lect very distinctly that the great 
transcontinental lines of road point- 
edly refused to take the proposed 
extra pay, the extra allowance, be- 
cause they said they could not afford 
to do it, and the only line on which 
It is put into operation was one that 
did originally run from Boston to 
Tampa, 

"A very curious thing happened 
there. We wanted to get the mail to 
Havana and there was no authority 
•on the part of the Postmaster-Gen- 
eral to make a contract except for sea 
postage, with any steamer. I put in 
the bill a provision that placed Ha- 
vana, as far as transportation was 
concerned, within the domestic com- 
merce, so that the Postmaster-Gen- 
eral was enabled to make a contract 
with the Plant System of railroads, 
which built the steamers which are 
y?t plying, the Mascot and the Oli- 
vette to carry that service. 

"This same subsidy, as you term 
It — the bill does not call it that; it 



calls it extra facilities for fast mail 
or trunk lines — this same service was 
enjoyed for a great many years by 
the Seaboard Air Line." 

Mr. Bacon, of Georgia, said: "Mr. 
President, what has been said by the 
Senators from Mississippi will make 
it unnecessary for me to repeat some 
things which I otherwise myself 
would have said. I desire, however, 
to present to the Senate the consid- 
eration that this is a most important 
matter to the business of a very wide 
extent of our country. All the busi- 
ness communities of the territory 
south of this are vitally interested in 
the retention of this item in the bill. 
* * * 

"Mr. President, Senators who live 
in the North and West do not appre- 
ciate the difficulties in a business re- 
lation which are encountered in 
sparsely settled communities, because 
all of those States are comparatively 
sparsely settled. What is the conse- 
quence of that fact? The conse- 
quence is that it is impossible for 
the railroads in their ordinary busi- 
ness to run the number of trains or 
the character of trains which can be 
afforded by railroads running 
through thickly settled communities 
and thickly settled States." 

Mr. Morgan, of Alabama: It 
strikes me now that this is the best 
reason I have ever heard. It cer- 
tainly is the best one ever addressed 
to my mind for voting for this rather 
peculiar subsidy; but there are 
other places and other railroads that 
are subsidized. Whether it is done 
in the body of the act and by some 
distinctive appropriation or not 
makes no difference. I suppose if 
you take the actual cost of transmit- 
ing a letter from New York to San 
Francisco, it will amount to a quarter 
of a dollar, but we must make up 
this contribution from the general 
taxation of the country, so that those 
people can get their mail at the same 
rate of postage we do and with the 
same degree of speed also. It is a 
matter of enormous concern to all the 
business interests of the United 
States that that should be the case." 

Mr. Tillman, of South Carolina 
said: "Mr. President, as a general 
proposition, I am opposed to subsi- 
dies of any and all kinds. But there 
are to rhy mind special reasons why 



94 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



this one may be an exception, and 
therefore two years ago, and I be- 
lieve last year, when we had the ap- 
propriation bill for the Post Office 
Department before the Senate, I 
voted for the subsidy for the South- 
ern mail, and I do not know but 
that I had a few remarks to make 
upon the subject." 

Three-quarters of the mail routes 
in the United States are to-day sub- 
sidized in the sense that the postage 
collected on them does not equal 
the cost of the service. Only one- 
quarter have developed sufficient 
business to pay a profit. Stop sub- 
sidy on land and it would stop three- 
quarters of the mall routes in the 
United States to-day. In this day 
and generation "the field is the 
world" in commerce as well as reli- 
gion, and why not apply this princi- 
ple on the sea as well as on land? 
It matters not whether you call it 
mail pay or subsidy. It is fair pay 
for a service rendered, and whether 
it is freight trains or fast mails, 
freight vessels or express steamers, 
there must be an equivalent for the 
service. If. we can tempt capital into 
harnessing steam and electricity and 
applying it to transportation, 
whether on sea or land, nine-tenths 
of the benefit will inure to the pub- 
lic, and only one-tenth to capital. 
No better evidence of this is possi- 
ble than is furnished in a recent ar- 
ticle by Hon. 0. P. Austin, Chief of 
the United States Bureau of Statis- 
tics, in the North American Review, 
entitled "A Century of International 
Commerce." 

The marked advance in the inter- 
change of commodities was simultan- 
eous with the development of the 
steamship and railway, and that the 
growth of the one was coincident 
with that of the other. The applica- 
tion of steam to transportation of 
merchandise by rail began in Eng- 
land in 1825, and in the United States 
in 1830, the number of miles of rail- 
way in the world in 1830 being about 
200. In that year, the world's com- 
merce, according to the best esti- 
mates obtainable, was $1,981,000,000, 
as against $1,659,000,000 in 1820, an 
increase in the decade of barely sev- 
enteen per cent., while in the pre- 
ceding decades of the century the 
increase had been even less. By 1840, 



railways had increased to 5,420 miles*, 
and commerce had increased to $2,~ 
789,000,000, an increase of forty per- 
cent. From 1840 to 1850, railways in- 
creased to 23,960 miles, and com- 
merce had increased to $4,049,000,000,. 
a gain of forty-five per cent. By 
I860, the railways had increased to 
67,350 miles and commerce to $7,- 
246,000,000, an increase of seventy- 
nine per cent. By 1870, the railroads 
had increased to 139,860 miles and 
commerce to $10,663,000,000; by 1880, 
the railroads had increased to 224,- 
900 miles and commerce to $14,761,- 
000,000; by 1890, the lines of railroad 
amounted to 390,000 miles and com- 
merce to $17,519,000,000, and, in 1898, 
the railroad lines aggregated 442,- 
200 miles, and commerce $19,915,000,- 
000. A single instance will indicate- 
the development which the railroad 
gives to the commerce of a country.. 
India, with three hundred millions 
of population and 22,000 miles of rail- 
way, has seen her commerce increase 
nearly sixty per cent, in the past 
twenty-five years, while that of 
China, with nearly four hundred mil- 
lions of people, but no railways, has 
increased but about thirty per cent, 
in that time. 

In the meanwhile, steam had also 
revolutionized the carrying trade on 
ocean. The first steamship crossed 
the ocean in 1819, and the total steam 
tonnage afloat in 1820 is estimated at. 
20,000 tons, against 5,814,000 of sail 
tonnage. By 1840, steam tonnage ha/! 
increased to 368,000, while sail had 
grown to 9,012,000; by 1860, steam 
had reached 1,710,000, while sail was 
14.S90.000; by 1870, steam tonnage- 
was 3,040,000, and sail had dropped to 
13,000,000; by 1880, steam had be- 
come 5,880,000, and sail 14,400,000; 
by 1890, steam had reached -9,u40, 000, 
and sail had dropped to 12,640.000: 
and. in 1898, the stealn tonnage was 
estimated at 13,045,000, and the sail*, 
tonnage at 11,045,000. The rapidity 
of growth of steam transportation, 
however, can only be realized when 
it is remembered that the steam ves- 
sel, by reason of its superior speed, 
size and ability to cope with all kinds 
of weather, is able to make four 
times as many voyages in a year as- 
a sailing vessel, and that, in compar- 
ing the steam tonnage of the late de- 
cades with the sail tonnage of the 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 



9; 



earlier one, the former must be mul- 
tiplied by four to give it a proper 
comparison with the unit of sail ton- 
nage. Reducing the steam tonnage 
to that of the standard of measure- 
ment at the beginning of the cen- 
tury, we find that the carrying power 
• of vessels on the ocean had increased 
from 4,026,000 tons in 1880 to 18,- 
482,000 in 1840, 21,730,000 in 1860, 37,- 
900,000 in 1890, and 63,225,000 in 1898- 



Population 

Newspapers and periodicals published 

Post offices in existence 

Telegraph messages sent 

Miles of railway in operation 



9, of which last enormous total but 
11,450,000 was sailing tonnage." 

This remarkable exhibit is further 
emphasized by a recent address by 
Hon. Lyman J. Gage, Secretary of 
the Treasury, upon the progress of 
the United States, in which was 
grouped, perhaps, the most remark- 
able array of statistics the world has 
ever seen; — progress, progress every- 
where except in our foreign ship- 
ping. 

Per ct. 
Inc. or dec. 

1899. 1870-1899 



1870. 

38,558,371 

!5,871 

28,492 

9,157,646 

52,992 



76,148,000 
21,178 
75,000 

76,895,175 
M86.810 



Tons of freight carried one mile ..a39,302,209,249 bl44,556,173,191 



1.94 



Average freight rate per ton per mile 

Tonnage of vessels passing through 
Sault Ste. Marie Canal ........ 

Bushels of wheat produced ........ 

Bushels of corn produced .......... 

Pounds of cotton produced ...... 

Bales of cotton (domestic) taken by 
mills 

Tons of coal produced 

Gallons of petroleum 

Tons of pig iron produced .......... 

Tons of steel produced 

Exports of manufactures of iron and 
steel .... ......... 

Exports of manufactures 

Exports of agricultural products . . 

Total exports 

Total imports $435,959,408 

Deposits in savings banks $549,874,358 

American vessels — 

Domestic Trade 2,729,707 

Foreign Trade 1,516,800 

Great Lakes only 684,704 

a— 1882. b— 1898. 



690,826 

235,884,700 

1,094,255,000 

1,451,401,357 

857,000 

32,863,000 

185,262,962 

1,665,179 

68,750 

$11,002,900 

$68,279,764 

$361,118,483 

$392,771,768 



.75 

21,958,347 

547,303,843 

2,078,143,933 

5,793,689,282 

3,632,000 

bl96,405,953 

b2,325,297,786 

bll,773,934 

b8,932,857 

$93,716,031 
$238,667,794 
$784,999,090 

$1,227,023,302 
$697,149,489 

$2,230,366,954 

4,015,992 

848,246 

1,446,348 



inclOO 
inc261 
incl63 
inc739 
inc252 
incl92 
dec61 

inc3079 

inc!33 

inc89 

inc299 

inc324 

inc498 

incll55 

inc607 

incl2893 

inc752 
inc396 
incll7 
inc212 
inc60 
inc327 

inc47 

dec44 

inclll 



Secretary Gage in alluding to this 
exhibit says: 

"The only dark spot on this record 
of the nation's progress is our failure 
in the carrying trade upon the high 
seas. This record must, and will be, 
improved. Political considerations 
compel a solution of the shipping 
question. Our people, our law mak- 
ers, our President, appreciate that 
our industrial independence will not 
be established, our geographical pos- 
sibilities will not be realized, our nat- 



ural aspirations will not be satis- 
fied until we record as signal suc- 
cesses, in the most highly-organized 
line of modern activity, international 
navigation, as in agriculture, manu- 
factures, and transportation within 
our own confines." 

With a coast line greater than that 
of any other nation; with a nation of 
marine instincts; with traditions 
from Paul Jones to George Dewey 
in an unbroken record of intelligence 
and intrepidity, we have tolerated a 



96 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



policy towards our foreign shipping 
which has handicapped effort and 
discouraged investment until it is 
nothing short of a national disgrace. 

It is as absurd for the United 
States to rely upon foreign snips to 
distribute our products as it would 
be for one business house to depend 
upon the wagons of a competing 
house to make its deliveries. 

Every ship is a missionary of trade, 
and steam lines worK for their own 
countries just as railway lines work 
for their terminal points. 

The importance of an American 
Merchant Marine cannot be better 
summarized than in the resolutions 
adopted by the National Board of 
Trade at its last annual convention, 
a Commercial Congress composed of 
delegates from forty of the principal 
commercial organizations of the 
United States, including the New Or- 
leans Board of Trade and the New 
Orleans Chamber of Commerce. The 
resolutions were: 

Whereas, United States vessels in 
1826 carried 92 per cent, of the Na- 
tion's imports and exports, 81 per 
cent, in 1845, 75 per cent, in 1856, and 
only 8 per cent, in 1899, showing a 
lamentable decline in our merchant 
marine in the foreign trade, owing 
to the fact that it is conducted on a 
free-trade basis; and, 

Whereas, The tonnage of vessels in 
the coasting trade, in which foreign 
competition is absolutely forbidden, 
increased from 722,330 in 1826 to 1,- 
223,218 in 1845, and to 2,247.663 in 
1856, and to 3,965,313 in 1899, thus 
demonstrating the ability of this 
country to meet all of its needs in 
the matter of shipping when proper/ y 
protected; and, 

Whereas. The United States is now 
paying to foreign ship owners nearly 
$200,000,000 annually to do our ocean 
carrying trade, which sum increases 
yearly; and, 

Whereas, The enormous decline in 
our ocean merchant marine is due to 
the lo^er waees paid abroad and to 
the subsides paid by foreign govern- 
ments, Great Britain alone, according 
to document "No. 470. miscellaneous 
series" issued by the British Govern- 
ment in 1899, paying last year $3,- 
266,380 in "nostal subsidies" and 
$233,005 additional ti the same 
steamship lines in "n?.val subven- 



tions," while for mere wages alone 
the cost of operating an American 
ship is almost exactly one-and-a-half 
times the cost of operating a similar 
British ship; and the same difference 
in wages gives greater advantages 
to foreigners in every way, includ- 
ing lower cost in the construction of 
ships; and, 

Whereas, The protective principle 
should be extended to our shipping, 
in the foreign trade, that it may be 
built up as has been done in the case 
of other industries, including our 
coastwise shipping; and, 

Whereas, The profitable employ- 
ment of the surplus productive power 
of the farms, factories, mines, for- 
ests and fisheries of the United States 
imperatively demands the increase 
of its foreign commerce; ana, 

Whereas, The merchant vessels, of- 
ficers, engineers,, machinists, elec- 
tricians and seamen necessary to the 
increase of the commerce of the 
United States are also essential as 
auxiliary to the forces of the United 
States in time of war and otherwise, 
and to the better security of the na- 
tion and the protection of its posses- 
sions; and, 

Whereas, It is deemed especially 
expedient to make immediate pro- 
vision to these ends; therefore, 

This memorial of the National 
Board of Trade assembled in Wash- 
ington, January 23, 1900, respectfully 
represents to the Honorable House 
of Representatives and Senate of the 
United States that the delegates now 
here, representing all sections of our 
country, find it to be a matter of su- 
preme interest that our foreign ex- 
ports have now reached the largest 
figures ever known, and offer further 
opportunities for increase in still 
wider fields. 

To give force and emphasis to 
these opportunities, and to give some 
permanence to the exceptional ad- 
vantages of the past year, this coun- 
try needs a revival of its merchant 
marine. 

Your memorialist, the National 
Board of Trade, respectfully repre- 
sents that the Prye Senate Bill or 
the Payne House Bill will be effec- 
tive to this end. The principles em- 
bodied in these Bills have met the 
approval of the President of the 
United States, the Secretary of the 



Held in New Orleans December 4-7, 1900. 



97 



Treasury and the Commissioner of 
Navigation, and they have been in- 
dorsed by nearly every trade and 
commercial organization in the coun- 
try, and by the press to an extent 
which shows an overwhelming senti- 
ment in their favor. 

The argument for an American 
merchant marine has had the further 
distinct recommendation of foreign 
delegates to the recent Export Con- 
vention as essential for the further 
cementing of trade relations with the 
countries they severally represented. 

In view of these considerations, 
your memorialist, the National Board 
of Trade, looks with confidence for 
your early and favorable action on 
this subject. 

Transportation on Land. 
On land our unequalled railway ser- 
vice has given us a great advantage. 
Our railways carry our products 1,- 
000 miles to our seaboard for less 
than foreign railways carry them 
two hundred miles inland from their 
seaboard; and, as a whole, our rates 
in this country are only about one- 
half those of other countries, while 
in safety, speed and comfort we are 
immeasurably superior; and yet, in 
legislative halls ana in the jury-box, 
we find a considerable element of 
hostility to our railroad interests. 
They are looked upon by some as the 
original trusts, but they have done 
more to develope the United States 
than any other single agency, and 
the great need of large sections of 
country is more railroads. This is 
illustrated by the following table, 
showing the density of railroads in 
different localities: 

Number of 
Miles of 
Line per 100 
Sq. Miles-of 
State. Territory. 

New Jersey 30.01 

Massachusetts 26.43 

Pennsylvania 22.03 

Ohio 21.43 

Illinois 19.38 

Iowa 15.35 

Kansas 10.76 

Nebraska , 7.29 

Virginia 9.16 

South Carolina 8.91 

Georgia 9.30 

Mississippi 5.79 



Louisiana 5.51 

Texas 3.68 

California 3.51 

Montana 2.01 

Oregon 1.69 

Will railroads be built as fast as 
is desirable if in sections where they 
have been constructed they are 
treated as if they were public ene- 
mies to be constantly legislated 
against, their rates reduced by law 
and their taxes increased. A tax of 
ten per cent, upon the net earnings 
of a mercantile house would be 
deemed exhorbitant, yet, on one great 
railroad system with which I am fa- 
miliar, its taxes amount to eighteen 
per cent, of its revenue. Railroads 
pay a larger percentage of their earn- 
ings for taxes and labor than any 
other business in existence, and yet, 
only last week, I saw that the State 
of Kentucky had largely advanced 
the assessments on the railroads of 
that State. 

In the mining regions when a 
trader grubstakes a miner and he 
finds a good strike, does the miner 
crawfish on a fair divide? I have 
yet to hear of such a case; but when 
a man of unusual energy and enter- 
prise conceives a railroad, gathers a 
hundred or a thousand partners as 
stockholders, builds it and charges 
five cents a mile for carrying a pas- 
senger with comfort where it had 
previously cost ten cents by stage 
with discomfort, or two cents per 
mile per ton of freight, where it had 
cost ten cents by wagon— and the 
railroad is there and can't be moved 
—some public-spirited citizen (gener- 
ally a candidate for office) suggests 
that the great monopoly is charging 
too much, and that charges should 
be reduced one-half. I do not say 
that railroads or other aggregations 
of capital, known as "trusts," are 
without sin, or that they should not 
be regulated and controlled if they 
do what is unreasonable, but I do 
say when capital has grubstaked 
labor or has created values without 
any labor on the part of the public, 
as is often the case, it is entitled 
to equitably share in the profits. 

But few commodities have declined 
in price as much as transportation. 
This is illustrated by the following 
table, showing the average receipts 
per ton per mile on leading railroads 



98 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



for the years 1870, 1880, 1890 and 1898, inclusive: 

Railway Lines. 1860. 1880. 

Lines Bast of Chicago 1.61 .87 

West and Northwest lines 2.61 1.44 

Southwestern lines 2.95 1.65 

Southern lines 2.39 1.16 

Transcontinental lines 4.50 2.21 

Average 1-99 1.17 



1890. 


1898. 


.63 


55 


1.00 


.94 


1.11 


.94 


.80 


.62 


1.50 


.99 



.91 



.72 



This result has been attained 
largely through combinations and 
consolidations, which, contrary to cue 
impression generally entertained, 
have not resulted in abolishing com- 
petition, but have resulted in econo- 
mies of operation and improvement 
of service, accompanied with a steady 
reduction in rates. 

Passenger rates have not declined 
as largely as freight rates, but there 
has been a material decline in the 
period covered by the above statis- 
tics, while the quality of the service 
has been greatly improved, with a 
corresponding increase in its cost to 
the railway. 

The railroad of twenty years ago, 
with its equipment, would not be 
tolerated to-day. How many of us 
appreciate the privilege of stepping 
into a parlor on wheels and being 
hurled through space at the rate of 
forty miles an hour, with as much 
safety as if we sat in our drawing- 
rooms or were sleeping in our beds 
at home? 

At every hour of the day and night 
the iron horse is speeding over this 
great country, guided by clear-eyed 
and strong-armed drivers, drawing a 
freightage of life and property be- 
yond estimate. 

How little the public knows of the 
wonderful system and the number- 
less signals and appliances necessary 
to accomplish this result? 

While railroad rates, as a whole, 
are more than reasonable in this 
country, unjust discriminations be- 
tween shippers and between localities 
exist, which are detrimental alike to 
the railroads and the public. Con- 
cessions are granted to large ship- 
pers which give them an undue ad- 
vantage over small ones, and give 
rise to public prejudice which finds 
its expression in legislation and in 
the jury-box; rates are reasonable, 



but uniformity and stability are lack- 
ing. 

The economy of operation largely 
depends upon the volume of business. 
The shipper in a sparsely settled 
country with small business does not 
appreciate this. He sees that rates 
in some sections are much higher 
than those in others, and falls an 
easy prey to the politicians who ad- 
vocate a reduction. Yet, the sure net 
returns to the investor, including 
freedom from unjust legislation, are 
indicated by the relative prices of 
stocks in three of the great divisions 
above noted: 

Ton Mile 
Rate. 
Lines East of s Chicago ......... 55 

Transcontinental lines 99" 

Southern lines 62 

Price of Stock. 
Penna. R. R. N. Y. C. R. R. 

141 138 

Southern Pacific. Union Pacific. 

45 Preferred 76 

Common 59 
Southern Ry. 

Preferred 66 

Common 17 

The Reverand Sam Jones says: 
"There is no dount the aggrega- 
tion of wealth, with "brains controll- 
ing it, can manufacture any article 
cheaper than it is or has been manu- 
factured on a small scale. The great 
railroad combinations, many think, 
will eat us up blood rare. Occasion- 
ally, I get a little jerk-water road 
that is not in the combination, and 
I want to double my accident poli- 
cies and be satisfied with a 15-mile- 
an-hour gait and console myself with 
the idea that I can ride all day for 
a dollar, but when I get on the Penn- 
sylvania or Vanderbilt system of 
roads, with their schedules forty 
miles an hour vestibule trains, with 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



99 



parlor cars, sleeping cars, dining 
cars, I have a hotel on wheels carry- 
ing me toward my destination, and 
all this for about two cents a mile. 
Give me the road that is in the com- 
bine to carry me where I am going." 

In our foreign commerce, the large 
organizations of capital, known as 
"trusts," are doing a work in ex- 
tending American markets that it 
would be impossible ror smaller units 
of capital to accomplish. 

The organization of industry has 
appeared so suddenly that the pub- 
lic was startled, as a good horse will 
shy at an umbrella wnen it is opened 
suddenly in his face, but let hint 
smell of it and see that it is not 
dangerous his alarm subsides — thus 
will it be with trusts. Their evil 
will be eliminated, their good will be 
developed, their usefulness to man- 
kind demonstrated, and the bogy 
which the rivalries of sensational 
journalism and partisan politics have 
conjured up will fade into thin air. 

The United States Export Associa- 
tion was organized five years ago as 
a union of American interests to 
widen American marKets. Its mem- 
bership now comprises leading 
houses in 98 principal lines of indus- 
try situated in 34 States. In connec- 



tion with kindred organizations it 
is doing a great work in widening 
our markets, especially for manufac- 
tured products, ana thus furnishing 
remunerative employment for labor 
and capital. We have carefully 
studied the problem and while many 
minor requisites are important, the 
most important is the development 
and fostering of our transportation 
system, both on sea and land. We 
pay two hundred millions of dollars 
a year to foreign ships to carry our 
exports. An expenditure of ten mil- 
lions a year in subsidies would in- 
crease the supply of tonnage and re- 
duce these rates twenty per cent, 
saving forty millions a year in 
freights and give us the markets o£ 
the world. Would this be good busi- 
ness? Iron, Cotton and Coal are 
the Keystones in the World's Com- 
mercial structure. Of these we have 
inexhaustible resources yet as com- 
pared with one little country, Great 
Britain, we export of Iron only fifty 
per cent., of Manufactured Cottons 
ten per cent., and of Coal five per 
cent. Foster our transportation in- 
terests and in a few years we can< 
transpose these figures and make this 
country the world's centre of ex- 
change. (Applause.) 



COASTWISE WATER COMMUNICATION. 

BY N. B. KELLY, 
Secretary of the Trades League, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Mr. N. B. Kelly, Secretary of the 
Trades League, Philadelphia, Pa., 
read the following paper on "Coast- 
wise Water Communications Be- 
tween Ports:" 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: At the 
last meeting of the Southern Indus- 
trial Convention, I advocated the es- 
tablishment of Coastwise Steamship 
Lines, and since then we have estab- 
lished a steamship line between Phil- 
adelphia and Savannah, sailings 
every four days, each way. This line 
of steamers, while only being in op- 
eration from the first day of Octo- 
ber, has already acquired more busi- 
ness than it can conveniently carry 
in two ships, and we understand it 
is the intention of the management 
to put on another ship in the very 



near future, making the sailings 
semi-weekly. 

"It is of advantage to all ports 
in the South to have direct' water 
communication with one or more of 
the Northern Seaboard cities, as by 
this means it enables you not only 
to transport your goods at a reduced 
cost, but has a tendency to keep the 
all-rail rates down. 

"These steamship lines are not 
only a benefit to the seaboard cities, 
but a help to all interior cities con- 
tiguous to seaboard points. We to- 
day reach most of the larger towns 
in Tennessee. Florida, Georgia, Mis- 
sissippi and Alabama by this new 
line. 

"It would be greatly to the advan- 
tage of New Orleans if she had di- 



100 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



rect water communication with Phil- 
adelphia, as shipments from Phila- 
delphia that go by water to-day to 
New Orleans have to be transhipped 
to New York, thus causing additional 
handling, which is of no benefit to 
the commodity shipped. 

"It is contended by some that these 
water lines are inimical to the rail 



transportation lines. In this I dis- 
agree, believing the more water lines 
that you can secure from your port, 
either coastwise or foreign, is of 
benefit to the rail lines having their 
termini in your city. We to-day are 
carrying via the Savannah line from 
Savannah, cotton, naval stores, pig 
iron, lumber and other commodities. 




N. B. KELLY, SECRETARY OF THE TRADES LEAGUE, PHILADELPHIA, 

PENNSYLVANIA. 



which are being transhipped from 
Philadelphia by our export steam- 
ship lines to foreign ports. All of 
which has a tendency to bund up 
your city and indirectly help your 
railroads. 

"I trust that ere we have another 
meeting of the Southern Industrial 
Convention that the merchants of 
New Orleans will have progressed to 



tne extent of securing direct water 
communication between your port 
and the city that I have the honor 
to represent. Should you do so, I 
can assure you that the Port of Phil- 
adelphia will welcome the line with 
open arms, and the organization back 
of me will do everything it possibly 
can to encourage such an enterprise." 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 



101 



Foreign Trade a Necessary Factor 
In Southern Industrial Devel- 
opment. 

"It is unnecessary to analyze the 
marvelous development of Southern 
industries. The whole press of the 
United States, and an important part 
of the foreign press, have recently 
overflowed with astonishing tables 
and surprising statements — state- 
ments and tables which individually 
and collectively prove, beyond the 
shadow of a doubt, that the great 
territory south of Mason and Dixon's 
Line has taken its place, as a wealth- 
winner, side by side with the best 
trained, best equipped, wealth pro- 
ducing sections of the world. 

"Moreover, it must be admitted 
that the prophesies for the new year 
and the new century into which we 
shall presently enter, derive their 
glowing colors from the splendid in- 
dustrial future which is promised to 
the people of the South. There is 
undoubtedly a broad basis of truth, 
underlying these statements of strik- 
ing conditions in the present; much 
truth in these happy predictions of 
greater commercial triumphs in 
times to come; and it is well within 
the bounds of conversatism to say, 
that the South has developed mar- 
velously along industrial lines, out- 
stripping, in such development, the 
most sanguine hopes of her American 
and European well-wishers and true 
friends (in the North.) 

"But even while this chorus of 
congratulations is at the full, and 
the future seems to hold no discon- 
certing shadow, it may be the part 
of wisdom to look facts squarely in 
the face — wise to turn for a few 
moments from the present day, bril- 
liant with promises fulfilled, and scan 
the days to come for complications, 
which, if allowed to continue their 
development unchecked, may bring 
a slackening in the present rate of 
growth and development, in that 
mighty commercial empire, me 
Great Sunny South, unless foreign 
markets are provided. 

"The healing balm of peace, the 
fusing of influence of increasing com- 
mercial intimacy, and the rough hand 
of foreign war, each in its own pe- 
culiar way has worked to expunge 
from National memory, from Na- 
tional geography, from National pol- 



icy, the old and bitter thing called 
Sectionalism. To-day we are the 
United States in fact, as well as in 
fiction. Prosperity for the South is 
prosperity for the North, the West, 
the East — for every State in the 
Union. 

"But while this beneficent combi- 
nation of circumstances has obliter- 
ated sectional lines, and brought us 
as a people to a common interest in 
things commercial, it has been pow- 
erless to neutralize wholly certain 
civil war "after-math," or dissipate 
all of the old war- legacies. The 
great Southern States, during the 
Civil War, sacrificed men and money 
with a prodigal hand — dispersed a 
great reserve of national wealth, 
while other portions of the country 
were conserving men and money 
with a skill born of social and com- 
mercial conditions, wholly at vari- 
ance with the social and commercial 
training and traditions of the South. 
As a consequence of this difference 
in sectional policy, wnen the nation 
came to make count of her individual 
millionaries, the proportion resident 
beyond the limits of the Southern 
States was found to be heavily 
against that section. And because of 
this condition, the South, with its 
undeveloped natural resources, its 
limited railway mileage, its unopened 
and unoccupied mineral and farm 
lands, stands to-day in need of a 
greater capitalization, per acre and 
individual, than does any other sec- 
tion of the United States. 

"This new capital, so necessary to 
her continuous development, the 
South has already commenced to win 
and accumulate. But with the mul- 
titudinous demands upon her purse, 
charged with the repair of waFTav- 
ages, hampered by slow healing 
wounds in the body politic, commer- 
cial and social, her earnest, honest 
and intelligent effort to accumulate 
wealth has been forced to carry a 
handicap, from which the North and 
East and West have been largely 
free. The , wonder is that, carrying 
such a burden, working under such 
inauspicious conditions, she has been 
able to m°ke so much real progress 
towards the goal of wealth. But 
even with the largest estimate of 
wealth accumulated is accepted as 
correct, the South stands to-day, la 



102 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



the eyes of her best friends, a sec- 
tion which pre-eminently requires 
new capital for her industries and 
continuous employment for her no- 
ble people. 

"New England may contemplate 
with equanimity a temporary hush in 
the hum of her whirling spindles, for 
the accumulated wealth of that old 
and populous section (a sectional 
fund of wealth handed down from 
father to son, through generations 
working wholly outside of a war- 
disturbed area), may be relied upon 
to carry the people and section 
through all stresses of times in the 
financial and commercial world. Such 
accumulated capital may also be re- 
lied upon to place New England man- 
ufacturers in a position to take ad- 
vantage of the first turn of the tide, 
and, fully equipped, to enter into the 
world's great competition, the equal 
of the latest, best and strongest' com- 
mercial rival. The Middle States, the 
Central West, and even the Pacific 
Coast States, are likewise provided 
with a reserve fund, sufficiently 
large to rob of all real terror the 
prospect of a temporary break in 
their individual productive capacity. 
Paralyze Southern industries for a 
year and what would be the effect 
upon the social, commercial and pol- 
itical body? 

"To point a danger, at the high 
noon of a bright commercial day, 
to sound an alarm when other men 
are exchanging felicitations over a 
cloudless future, is always a thank- 
less task — is nearly always a foolish 
one — unless such warning is coupled 
with discovery of a preventitive for 
the trouble predicted. In this hope- 
ful and helpful spirit, let us survey 
the future, and begin that survey by 
a careful study of present conditions. 
"It is commonplace commercial 
talk that, stimulated by the present 
high prices and wide SDread demand 
for manufactured product, our facili- 
ties of production are increasing rap- 
idly — so rapidly that within three 
years we shall probably develope 
ability to supnly the wants of the 
home market, for the whole year, bv 
working only four months in each 
year. 

"When this noint of over oroduc- 
tlon shall have been reached, what 
will follow? If a drastic limitation 



. of output shall be enforced, wuat 
section of the country will be least 
prepared, to stand the financial and 
political strain a period of coerced 
idleness? To come closer to the sub- 
ject, can the South afford to have her 
mines and mills remain idle two- 
thirds of the year? Is she as well 
able to endure such a curtailment of 
earning capacity as the New England 
States, Middle States or "Western 
States? Going a step further, has 
not the South a greater interest in 
the immediate broadening of the 
market of American manufactured 
goods, than any other geographical 
division of the Republic — greater 
reason, not merely from a desire or 
necessity, to accumulate wealth, but 
for the reason that truth lies in the 
old maxim 'a busy people is an easy 
people to rule.' 

"In raw materials, the South has 
already developed an immense for- 
eign market. But follow this trade 
from the Southern cotton field and 
press to the foreign spindle and loom 
and note how large a proportion of 
the profit on this business goes to 
the foreigner, falls into such hands 
simply because, through lack of fam- 
iliarity with the foreign situation, 
with foreign methods of trade, 
freights, tariffs, and other details of 
distribution, the South lacks ability 
to reap, unassisted, her splendid cot- 
ton harvest. Every cotton mill 
erected in the South, however, aids 
the South in controlling the foreign 
market for her raw cotton, by fur- 
nishing a home and freight-free mar- 
ket, for that raw product. And the 
more continuously employed sitpV 1 T ~ < - 
cal mills are kept, the strong* - ~' v l 
grow that Southern control over the 
market value of her chief natural 
source of wealth. 

"It thus appears that any policy 
which promises to bring new orders 
to Southern cotton mills, directly as- 
sists in creating higher urices for 
the raw cotton; consequently, the 
manufacturing and agricultural 
classes of the South have a common 
interest in the systematic discovery 
and exploitation of foreign markets 
for T^ariufaoturpd eoods. 

"Then. too. Southern coal and iron 
lauds "'ill only be ■fully develODed 
imrier the stimulus of a demand 
strong enough to overcome the ban- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-j, 1900. 



10-3 



dicap of limited railway facilities and 
limited capitalization. Such an in- 
sistent damand can only be expected 
to materalize when the surplus pro- 
duct of the whole Republic is sys- 
tematically guided inco foreign chan- 
nels; and the annual 'gmt' wnich has 
so frequently brought paralysis npon 
all trade development, is prevented 
not only by a policy of limited pro- 
duction, but by an equally energetic 
and loyal effort to increase the for- 
eign consumption of American pro- 
ducts. 

"It is true that tne South is able 
to show a wonderful record of devel- 
opment, based largely upon the stim- 
ulus of a demand circumscribed by 
the geographical limits of the United 
States. But the period during which 
this 'locally fed' expansion of South- 
ern trade has taken place, is a per- 
iod which cannot be regarded as a 
safe criterion by which to forecast 
the trade possibilities of a long ser- 
ies of years. Previous to its inau- 
guration, individual and collective 
economies in consumption, had cre- 
ated a wide, deep and strong demand, 
among all classes of people, and in 
all sections of the country. And when 
the inevitable swing of the pendulum 
took place, and the mood optimistic 
succeeded the mood pessimistic, each 
citizen of the Republic was conscious 
of a need for certain articles which 
long usage had changed from luxur- 
ies to necessities. The power to un- 
loosen purse strings, and widen the 
area of expenditure, came to mil- 
lions at the same moment; and the 
possession of this power brought a 
multitude of buyers simultaneously 



into the market, each eager to bid 
against the otner for tne same line of 
gooas. it was the old story — tem- 
porary demand surpassing temporary 
supply. 

"This abnormal trade condition of 
two buyers to one seller is rapidly 
mitigating. The receding wave will 
not carry us back to the old level 
of low consumption or prices; but 
before its backward wash is checked 
we shall have fallen considerably be- 
low the high water mark of 1899; 
consequently, the closing months of 
the present year may bring us face 
to face with the painfully familiar 
problem of two sellers and one buyer 
— the old problem intensified, how- 
ever, by the circumstances, that the 
abnormal demand of the year 1899 
has practically doubled the number 
of competitors for the old, or nor- 
mal volume of trade. 

"The old and perplexing question 
of increasing the consumption of 
American manufactured product, or 
cultivating foreign trade, still presses 
for an immediate and comprehensive 
answer. Is our answer to be 'man- 
ana, manana,' to-morrow, to-mor- 
row? Of shall we recognize condi- 
tions as they are, bring native wit 
to bear upon the problem and by 
studying the failures and successes 
of our commercial rivals abroad dis- 
cover some short cut to a system of 
foreign connections, some easy way 
to bridge the great waters which now 
separate the Southern mines and 
mills from the world's buying mil- 
lions. 

"I thank you, ladies and gentle- 
men, for your attention." (Applause.) 



COTTON OIL AND COTTON OIL PRODUCTS. 

BY HON. D. A. TOMPKINS. 



Mr. D. A. Tompkins, of Charlotte, 
N. C, read the following paper on 
"Cotton Oil and Cotton Oil Pro- 
ducts." 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: 

"The development of the produc- 
tion of cotton to the extent of ten 
million bales per year is a wonder- 
ful result and none but the most 
enterprising and capable people could 
even have brought it about. In the 
very face of this fact, however, it has 



been for a long time a sort of fashion 
to charge against people of the South 
a want of enterprise and energy. In 
many cases the credit for the very 
works which the South is doing is 
claimed by the people of some other 
section and the idea put to the for- 
ward that alien money or alien talent 
is necessary for the success of a 
proposed enterprise. 

"While no one has been more earn- 
est in inviting capital to the South 



104 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention 



for profitable investment and talent 
for profitable employment, because of 
the ampie room and opportunity for 
both, yet for the best interests of our 
home people and their children here- 
after, it is not desirable for these to 
relinguish to others the foremost 
positions or the best opportunities. 

"The cotton oil industry is one 
which has been developed to all prac- 
tical purposes exclusively in the 
South and exclusively by Southern 
people. It is an industry in which 
the enterprise and energy of our 
home people is made manifest when- 
ever self reliance is one of the ele- 
ments in the proposition. A people 
with less self reliance and less steadi- 
ness of purpose could never have res- 
cued civilization from the dangers 
that confronted it for a quarter of a 
century after the civil war. In the 
production of the best and cheapest 
raw material for clothing and in such 
enormous quantities and also in the 
development of such a splendid in- 
dustry in producing food products out 
of cotton seed, the demonstration of 
the wonderful originality and cap- 
ability of the people of the South has 
been made perfect. 

"For a long time these qualities 
of our people were hampered and 
dwarfed by the institution of slavery 
and its results. The weight of this 
burdensome influence has now about 
passed away and contemporaneous 
with this passage the white popula- 
tion of the South being free to en- 
gage in industrial enterprise brings 
forth results that astonish humanity. 
Amongst these results is an industry 
founded upon the crushing of cotton 
seed for oil, meal, hulls and lint, 
and other industries like refining the 
oil, making stock food out of the 
hulls and meals, feeding cattle for 
beef and dairy purposes, making 
soap, making fertilizers with meal 
for an ammoniate and various others. 

"Even in the production of the 
crude products — oil, hulls, meal and 
lint the industry has become one of 
very large proportions. 

"The greatest advantage will come, 
however, from the further develop- 
ment of industries based upon these 
products as raw materials and in 
which values by the barrel or ton are 
changed bv knowledge and skill and 
industry into values by the pint and 



pound, which means putting these 
products for immediate distribution 
in the retail trade. 

"For the last thirty years tue poli- 
tical condition of the South have not 
been favorable to development and 
improvement. The civil war swept 
away the institution of slavery and at 
the same time swept away the wealth 
of the South. But the civil war did 
not keep the South poor, for thirty 
years. The subsequent long contin- 
ued disaster was due to an attempt 
to legislate a social condition that 
was impossible, and it was this ex- 
periment that kept the white man of 
the South intensely employed in re- 
sisting a wave of semi-anarchy that 
for a generation threatened Anglo- 
Saxon civilization. In that time 
every white man has been compelled 
to make a living for his family with 
one hand, while he held the other 
ever armed and ready for its defense. 
In this time and in this condition 
you and your people have exhibited 
the highest development in govern- 
ment and in standing together for 
civilization. Without a leader you 
have stood together as a unit until 
you have accomplished the success of 
white rule. Even a Republican ad- 
ministration has come to agree with 
you. And in the Philippines, Cuba 
and Porto Rico, it is carrying out 
your policy of having the white man 
govern under the name of Anglo-Sax- 
on supremacy. 

"Advancement in the material 
prosperity of the South has of late 
years been due to the appreciation on 
the part of the Southerners them- 
selves of the fact that mere raw pro- 
duct from the farm are not the pro- 
ducts which are to be sent out for 
sale or exchanged to other parts of 
the world. 

"Nature makes no pretense of 
yielding or distributing what civil- 
ized man considers finished product, 
though she is lavish of raw material. 
The crudest notion of untilizing her 
resources consists in selling raw pro- 
ducts as they are grown or mined. 
This requires the least labor and 
least thought and will result in the 
smallest profit and the lowest civil- 
ization. 

"The cotton growing states with 
slave labor formerly produced and 
sold raw cotton at a great profit. 



Held in New Orleans, D '-ember 4-j, ipoo. 



105 



After the civil war the profit in this 
transaction continually decreased un- 
til it would seem that in order to 
advance in wealth we must return to 
the occupation of our Southern an- 
cestors one hundred years ago and 
sell not raw but manufacturing pro- 
duct. This would hardly be worth 
saying except for the fact that many 
of our generations seemed imbued 
with the idea that we are and of 
right ought to be common laborers 
and not artisans. But we have the 
greatest right by inheritance to be 
manufacturers, and we find that we 
of the South are as successful in 
manufacturing as in agricultural pur- 
suits. 

"Naturally the cotton plant ap- 
pears as the basis of our most ex- 
tended industry. We could not ex- 
port seed cotton and so we developed 
a large ginning interest to put our 
cotton in marketable shape. Now, 
we are realizing that ginning the cot- 
ton is but one short step toward put- 
ting it in the most profitable shape 
for market. Ten millions bales of 
cotton in the seed has practically 
no maket value in that shape. Put 
up in ginners' bales it has a local 
value, put in compress bale it has a 
universal value of say $400,000,000. 
Manufactured in common sheetings, 
at the present market valuation it 
would be worth $1,200,000,000. an in- 
crease of two hundred per cent. Man- 
ufactured into fine organdy it will 
have a value of $12,000,000,000, and in 
finer goods still more. Of course, 
the world would not take the entire 
crop in the shape of any one kind of 
goods but it will take in the manu- 
factured state in some of the mani- 
fold styles intermediate between the 
above values, so that it is safe to say 
that a 10,000,000 bale crop is un- ■ 
timately retailed as cloth for $5,000.- 
000,000. The question to be settled 
by the community which produces 
this raw cotton ts — how much of it 
they are willing to part with at $40 
a bale when it is ultmately sold at 
$500. And up to what price per bale 
are they prepared to bring it by 
their industry and sirill in manufac- 
ture? This is being worked out every 
day by each community for itself. 
and great progress is being made. 
At the present time in the whole 



•United States, the division is about 
as follows: 

Cotton manufactured 4,- 

000,000 bales, value. ..$450,000,000 

Cotton exported raw 6,- 
000,000 bales, value 240,000,000 

Total value 10,000,000 
bales raw and manufac- 
tured 690,000,000 

Average value received 
per bale 69* 

Along similar lines, a cognate in- 
dustry is also working out its des- 
tiny. 

"A crop of 4,000,000 tons of cotton 
seed (allowing 1,000,000) for planting 
without reference to manufacture is 
worth as a fertilizer about $40,000,- 
000, a goodly sum in the abstract, but 
an insignificant sum compared with 
the possibilities in the case. If the 
entire available seed crop (allowing 
twenty per cent for planting) were 
manufactured into the commonest 
products the value would be roout as- 
follows: 

160,000,000 gallons crude oil 

at 25 cents. . $40,000,000 

1,400,000 tons meal at $20. 28,000,000 
80,000,000 pounds lint at 

2 1/2 per cent 2,000,000 

2,000,000 tons hulls at $5.. 10,000,000 



Total crude products (av- 
evarging $20 per ton) . . .$80,o00,000 

"This shows how, with ordinary 
work now being done the value of 
cotton seed is double. Of course, the 
individual oil mills that manufacture 
this product do not realize as a profit 
this difference, but the communities 
where the work is done get it all. 
Some would go as manufacturing 
profit, some as wages, some as 
freights and some would be paid the 
farmers in excess of the fertilizer 
valuation of the seed. The above 
showing for the valuation of seed cot- 
ton is but the result of what is now 
the most ordinary form of manutae- 
turing. In many places the process is 
carried much further. The oil is re- 
fined to various stages; in some cases 
to the extent of making fine salad 
oil for table use worth $1.00 a gallon 
instead of 25 cents. In some in- 



106 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



stances the oil is mixed with other 
ingredients and made into compound 
lard. The lower grades are made 
into soap. The meal is frequently 
mixed with other ingredients and 
made into fertilizers. In some cases 
meal and hulls are fed to cattle for 
market and the droppings from the 
•cattle sold for manure thus doubling 
the value of meal and hulls. Taking 
the best condition or all the manu- 
facturing processes of which we are 
now capable, we would add to tn» 
value of the entire product as now 
manufactured: - 
.1,600,000 gallons oil at 

75c advance $120,000,000 

1,400,000 tons meal at $20 

. advance 28,000,000 

.2,000,000 tons hulls $5 ad- 
vance.. 10,000,000 

Waste products made into 

soap 2,000,000 

Total valuation capable of 

being added $160,000,000 

Value of crude products as 

now manufactured. ... 80,000,000 
Total possible of seed crop 

of 4,000,00 tons . . . . . . 240,000,000 

Average value per ton... 60 

"But this list does not exhibit the 
entire result from the work. There 
are many incidental advantages aris- 
ing from manufacturing in any com- 
munity. They might be summarized 
about as follows: 
Value of cattle raised and 
fattened not now possi- 
ble, say only 1,000,000 

head at $20 $ 20,000,0u0 

Fertilizers now wasted on 
the farm made availa- 
ble by the cattle busi- 
ness 2,000,000 

Enhanced value of com- 
mercial fertilizers on 
account of mixing with 

cattle manure 5,000,000 

Perishable food stuffs 
sold by farmers to of- 
ficers and other em- 
ployes of the mills and 

supplemental works. . . 10,000,000 
Miscellaneous advantages 
such as agents' commis- 
sions, merchants' profits 
on increased sale, etc., 
etc 3,000,000 



Total incidental advan- 
tages " ....$ 40,000,000 

Average increased value 
per ton of seed 10 

Value of seed crop as 
above ... .... ... 240,^00,000 



Grand total value of 4,- 
000,000 tons seed.. .... 280,000,000 



Total average value per 
ton of seed 70 

"Just as in the case of the manu- 
facture of cotton, the question arises: 
How much of this possible valuation 
are we willing to work out. The case 
now stands about as follows: 

Seed manufactured 2,500,- 

000 tons, value $ 50,000,000 

Seed used as fertilizers 1,- 

000,000 tons, value.. .. 10,000,000 ■ 
Seed wasted 500,000 tons, 

value .. .... 

Total received now for 

seed 60,000,000 

Average value per ton ... 15 

"This shows that there is a margin 
between our present receipts and the 
possible receipts from this wonderful 
crop of $220,000,000 from a source 
that once yielded nothing, or less 
than nothing, yet we see that we 
have not progressed one-third of the 
distance toward a perfectly visible 
possibility in the case. 

"The intensive system of agricul- 
ture is responsible for wonderful 
strides in that competition. By skil- 
ful and scientific manipulation, an 
acre of ground is now made to yield 
three times the product of former 
years. The same intensive idea in 
steam engineering has made it pos- 
sible to produce from a ton of coal 
three times as much power as for- 
merly. The same intensive idea can 
easily wrench from a ton of cotton 
seed three times the present values. 

"How to go forward to this goal 
is the problem we must all keep be- 
fore us. 

"First of all we must look to the 
proper construction of the machinery 
and the building:, in order to reduce 
the expenses. The item of insurance 
is excessive. The oil mills in this 

part of the country pay an average 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



107 



irate of about three per cent, and 
there are not a dozen mills in this 
-class. Cotton mills, carrying on a 
business even more hazardous, easily 
insure for one-fifth to one-quarter of 
one per cent. Why this difference? 
It is entirely a question of construc- 
tion and equipment. It is perfectly 
possible to so construct an oil mill 
-and equip it with fire protecting ap- 
paratus that it will insure as easily 
as a cotton mill. The same features 
of construction • and management 
that conduce to low insurance, also 
-condnce to more cleanly premises, 
and hence a better grade of products. 
"But the greatest step toward in- 
creasing the profits lies of course in 
continuing the processes to greater 
refinements and diversifying the pro- 
ducts, making a more finished article 
for the market. The usual process 
of refining oil yields 'summer yellow.' 
If this process is conducted with suf- 
ficient care and skill, the result may 
he called 'butter oil.' If this oil be 
properly manipulated with other ma- 
terials, a fine butter substitute may 
be produced and sold direct from the 
mills, instead of shipping the oil to 
Holland to be manipulated and sold 
from there. If the oil is properly 
treated, the finest salad oil may be 
made. This is a mere matter of skill. 
Ten years ago it was as difficult to 
find a first class one. More attention 
is now being paid to our education 
in these lines, and it should not be 
long before we can find sufficient 
skill to make table oils equal to those 
of Europe. We now export $12,000,- 
000 worth of oil, half of which goes 
to France, where it is refined and 
manipulated to suit the palates of 
a population accustomed to olive oil. 
It ought to be and is possible to make 
salad oil here from cotton seed which 
is superior to imported olive oil, for 
the reason that we can always have 
fresh cotton oil, while the imported 
oils must of necessity be older. The 
matter of freshness is, in the pres- 
ent state of the art, a most important 
one. Certain changes take place in 
oils with age. no matter in what way 
they are kept. The changes are al- 
ways for the worse, and tend toward 
rancidity. It is not impossible, how- 
evpr, that a way mav be found to 
remedy even this trouble. 

"A wide field is open for the man- 



ipulation of oil so that when it is 
used for cooking there will be no ds- 
agreeble odors. Great progress has 
been made in this line, and several 
companies now claim to turn out 
such products. But the best of them 
fall far short of perfection. 

"The manufacture of fine soap is 
an important direction to look in. 
A number of mills now make <x crude 
soap from their refuse products and 
some make good laundry soap from 
refined oil. It is but a step further 
to make fine toilet soap. There is 
a wide difference between the best 
laundry soap which sells at 5 cents 
per pound and some French toilet 
soaps selling at $1.50 per pound. The 
difference is mostly a matter of ski ' 
and knowledge, and but slightly a 
matter of raw material. 

"In the manufacture of soap an im- 
portant by-product is glycerine, 
which itself is capable of great de- 
grees of refining, and which if hand- 
led to the limit, would add greatly 
to the value of the output. It is 
difficult to set any limit to which the 
chemical end of the business may not 
be worked. 

"A much more simple branch of 
the business, and one which we al- 
ready have the skill to prosecute, 
is the proper disposition of the hulls 
and meal. Fifteen years ago hulls 
were burned as a fuel. Their fuel 
value is from 50 to 75 cents per ton, 
according to the price of coal in the 
locality. We now sell hulls as a 
cattle food at $5 per ton, and would 
consider it idiotic to burn such val- 
uable food stuff. But yet we bury 
in the ground a large quantity of 
cotton seed meal, calling it a fertil- 
izer, when it really is a food stuff, 
just as we once called hulls a fuel. 
There is no more denying the fact 
that meal will act as a fertilizer than 
there was, or is, that hulls will 
act as a fuel. But on the same rea- 
soning we might call rosewood a 
fuel, or cotton seed a fertilizer. It 
is a question of valuation for the 
purpose. On the present market the 
experiment stations give a fertilizer's 
valuation to cotton seed $10 per ton 
and cotton seed meal $20, while we 
know that cotton seed has a value in 
its mill product of $20 per ton, and 
the experiment station valuation on 
meal as a food stuff is $35 per ton. 



108 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



Hence it is more profitable to take 
meal out of the fertilizer class than it 
is cotton seed itself. 

"In transferring meal from the fer- 
tilizer class to the food stuff class a 
most curious result occurs, nothing 
less than the creating of a fertilizer 
value after feeding, which is about 
equal to the original fertilizing val- 
ue of the meal. 

Mr. Edwin Lehman Johnson, of 
Clemson College, has made a special 
study of this matter, and he gives 
the results of some actual experi- 
ments as below. He fed five cows on 
cotton seed meal and hulls. 

Meal, 20 lbs per day at $20 20 

Hulls, 80 lbs per day at $3 12 

Cost of daily ration . . .32 

"They excreted 177 1/2 lbs, which, 
when air dried, yielded 59 lbs., hav- 
ing a valuation of $0,297. 

"The cost of all the feed per animal 
was $0,064. The fertilizer produced 
$0,059. Hence the animals were sus- 
tained and fattened at a daily net 
cost of half a cent. The value of 
the excreted fertilizer was 93 per cent 
of the cost of the food. 

"It is found that a steer weighing 
1,000 lbs may be fed for 100 days on 
a daily ration of 6 pounds of meal 
and 24 lbs of hulls, and gain about 
300 pounds in weight'. 

"If the hulls from a 10.000,000-bale 
cotton cron (say 4.000,000 tons of 
seed, besides planting seed), were 
used in this manner, they would feed 
1,600,000 cattle for 100 days. The 
meal would feed 4,000.000 cattle. 
Thus by supplementing the hulls 
with some other rough forage from 
the farm, it is seen that the products 
from one ton of seed will fatten one 
steer. 

"It is a great mistake for the 
Southern States to be so much in 
want, of good beef that thev bring 
immense train loads from Chicago, 
while they have at their doors enough 
of the best, possible feed for more 
than a million beef cattle. The full 
appreciation of this condition will 
work wonders for the prosperity of 
this section. Systematic cattle feed- 
ing will iprhioe systematic butcher- 
ing:, which will develope into packing 
houses. Packing houses diversify 



their products to an endless degree. 
We shall then have a logical plant, 
using cotton seed as a raw material. 
The beef cattle fattened on cotton, 
seed products will produce fertilizers 
for the enrichment of cotton farmers. 
When slaughtered they will yield 
tallow and oleo, which may be mixed 
with cotton oil for lard compound 
and butter substitutes. 

"The cotton oil business in some 
degrees of intensified development is 
as important an adjunct to the farm 
community as a ginnery. There is 
room for a small plant in every cot- 
ton producing community. It has 
been the fashion in the past for farm- 
ers' movements to oppose oil mills. 
But it may easily be seen that a 
thrifty community derives great 
profit from the oil mill, and nothing 
will more quickly tend to bring about 
a full understanding of the matter 
than the extensive feeding of cattle. 

"And this very condition will en- 
hance the fertility of the soil and 
advance the condition of the farmer. 

"It becomes, therefore, clear that 
there are ample fields open for the 
further development of values out of 
this business that are and may be- 
come auxilliary to it. 

"Legislation. 

"Since the civil war we have be- 
come accustomed to forget our bus- 
iness interest because of the neces- 
sity to support our legislators in re- 
sisting destructive experiments as to- 
relation of the races. Indeed the 
subject was at one time so urgently 
pressed that we hardly had any bus- 
iness interests worth looking after. 
The time is now come, however^ 
when this supine condition in respect 
to legislation affecting business in- 
terests must be thrown off. We must 
cease following blindly the politi- 
cians. We must formulate what the 
requirements of our business are and 
assert our right to have laws that 
are at least not injurious. It is upon 
matters of this sort that we are. in 
urgent need of such organization 
amongst ourselves as will insure a 
protection of our interests. I know 
the time will never come when we 
will want any advantage, but there 
is no reason why we should idly 
wait while adverse interests procure 



Held in New Orleans ; } December 4-7 1900. 



109 



legislation to the South's injury. We 
must be up and about and fight our 
own battles. When I see attacks 
made in Congress upon our interest 
and knowing as well as I do our cap- 
acity to take care of ourselves, I am 
reminded of an incident I heard a 
few days ago. An old hunter who 
had exhausted his powder having 
lost his way on a rainy night in a 
part of the forest that was new to 
him, and being weary, took refuge in 
a cave that he found, and went to 
sleep. About daylight he was awak- 
ened up by a big bear that came 
sniffing down the entrance. This put 
the hunter in a very embarassing 
predicament and it looked as though, 
even for a man who had neglected re- 
ligion, prayer was the only remedy. 
So the old man opened up and prayed 
with unction to be saved from the 
bear. He had heard of Daniel and 
the lion's den and was not without 
faith as to that case and hope as to 
his own. But the bear came on get- 
ting nearer and nearer. Finally the 
old man came to a realizing sense 
that the bear was getting on to him, 
and bracing up he changed the man- 
ner of his prayer and said: 'Oh, Lord, 
if you won't help me, just don't help 
the bear, and (drawing his side wea- 
pons) I'm dinged if I don't show you 
the liveliest bear fight that was ever 
put up in this neck of these woods.' 
"I think it is time for us to throw 
-off our lethargy and make the same 
self-reliant appeal to Congress. I 
think we can take care of ourselves 
if Congress just won't help the other 
fellow too much. Stand for and in- 
sist upon open field and a fair fight. 
If its a pure food, go in on our mer- 
its. If its honest dealing, then on 
this ground we can stand also. Let 
our claims be known and then stand 
and fight for them. Here again for 
our own interests and for the in- 
terests of the farmers from whom 
we get our seed, you organize and 
your neighbor farmers ought to be 
in the combination. The attack is 
more upon them than upon you, for 
ultimately the outcome makes the 
price of seed. 

"It is idle to talk about any busi- 
ness shunning organization under all 
circumstances. The farmer organizes 
perhaps not enough. Labor organ- 
izes perhaps too much. It is not 



these combinations we are now deal- 
ing with. What we have in hand is 
advice to you to avoid improper com- 
binations, promote proper ones and 
resist in combination improper legis- 
lation directed against Southern in- 
terests. 

"Education. 
"In view of the exceedingly inti- 
mate relations between the business 
of the oil mill and that of the far- 
mer and of the values that might be 
gotten out of cotton seed with bet- 
ter education of the South, the ne- 
glect of this subject in the A. & A. 
College seems surprising. Latterly 
there is a growing appreciation of 
the importance and value of educa- 
tion in textile art, but neither the 
schools nor the people seem to prop- 
erly appreciate what a better teach- 
ing of the young men of the country 
might bring out of cotton seed. 

"The following esimates will ex- 
hibit something of the (round num- 
bers) : 

Cotton seed produced 5,000,000 tons, 
required for planting 1,000,000 tons, 
seed available to crush 4,000,000 tons, 
value at $12 a ton $50,000,000, value 
products (ordinary) $100,000,000, val- 
ue products manufactured $200,000,- 
000, value products, manufactured 
and utilized $300,000,000. 

"This is equal to the full value 
of the whole crop of lint cotton. By 
manufactured, I mean taking the or- 
dinary product of a crude mill and 
making refined products throughout 
of them. 

"By manufactured and utilized, I 
mean getting full value out of these 
products by first, feeding the meal to 
cattle and developing the lard busi- 
ness; second, making soap of resid- 
ual products from refinery; third, 
making an edible and cooking oil 
instead of common summer yellow; 
fourth, making candles, glycerine, 
gum, glue, etc., etc., at the oil mill. 
I conceive that no men are de- 
serving more credit in the South than 
the cotton oil men. They work for 
and benefit the farmer. They are 
feudal lords and are great fighters, 
but as feudal lords they stand by 
their own retainers. They follow 
their own lead only. Neither old or 
New England influences their meth- 
ods. They are above all others the 
friend of the farmer. They take his 



110 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



seed at a cash price. They furnish 
him reed scuh lor cattle at a iair 
price, thus making cotton raising 
profitable. By the use of cattle man- 
ure with commercial fertilizers, tney 
proviae tne means to improve the 
quality of his cotton and help him in 
other ways. 

. "The Agricultural and Mechanical 
College ought to give a special course 
in cotton seed and its products and 
their uses. 

"There was a time when our Bes- 
semer steel industry had to be sup- 
ported by high protective tariffs. In 
that time the business was in the 
hands of so-called self-made men. 
It was the fashion in that day ior 
successful men to boast that the only 
college that they ever attended was 
the towpath of the canal or the work- 
shop. These were sturdy men of 
sterling worth who were of the great- 
est value to this country. Tney 
guessed at mixtures of pig iron and 
sometimes made hard steel, some- 
times soft steel, and once in a while 
no 'steel at all. It was because of 
this uncertainty and awkwardness 
that they required so much protec- 
tion. Now we ship steel rails to for- 
eign countries and even to England 
itself. Education has been the chief 
means of this gigantic advance. 
Every steel works now has its chem- 
ist. Mixtures are made with abso- 
lute certainty of getting just the 
kind of steel that is wanted. "We 
hear no more of the self made man. 
The man who would attempt to con- 
duct a steel plant in this day and 
generation must be educated. We 
are past the day where technical ed- 
ucation alone is sufficient. The mod- 
ern manager of a steel plant must b9 
educated, both technically and prac- 
tically. He must have knowledge 
and skill and both these in abun- 
dance. It is by means of metallurgi- 
cal education that we have been able 
to develop our blast furnace business 
to an extent to export pig iron. I 
met not long ago a couple of Penn- 
sylvania iron makers in Washington, 
asking an increase in the tariff for 
the benefit of their business. These 
men have made the mistake of rely- 
ing upon tariffs and ignoring educa- 
tion too long. Education has so de- 
veloped the business that no tariff 
would avail an iron maker anything 



now. We are exporting pig iron and 
tnese men are leu in tne competi- 
tion. They are in the same fix as 
the feudal lord who failed to see the 
tendency of his times and who failed 
to co-operate with the larger and 
stronger central government ne be- 
came a part of that which was past 
and lost his head. 

"We export bridges because our 
bridge builders are educated. They 
calculate to a nicety how much metal 
is necessary in each member to carry 
the load; they put that in and none 
to make dead weight. Thus they get 
a better bridge at a cheaper price,, 
and have brought the business of 
American bridge building into suc- 
cessful competition the world over. 
"The same is true of locomotives. 
"In your business you have reached 
that point where the chemist can 
be of immense advantage. Take it 
up with your sons and those others 
who will succeed you, and see to it 
that in the next stage of the devel- 
opment of your business you qual- 
ify your successors to keap up your 
property and stay in the business. 
So far from having developed this 
business to a finish, you have m 
reality just begun the development. 
It is clear that your work has simply 
cleared the underbrush, as it were, 
and exposed to view the magnificent 
forest that is to engage your succes- 
sors. See to it that they are quali- 
fied for this larger opportunity. 
Markets. 
"To their eternal credit is should 
also be remembered that the cotton 
seed oil men have developed their 
business on an expert basis. They 
have never asked for protection. On 
the contrary, they have had to fight 
those who asked special privileges. 
The cotton oil men are frequently at- 
tacked by the hog-fat lard makers — 
those who render lard from cholera 
hogs and gut fat. It seems annoying 
that people who are as intelligent 
as the Americans will listen to a 
story about cotton oil as an "adulter- 
ant" from those who have no motive 
in the interest of pure food in their 
actions. The cotton oil is a pure, 
healthful and perfectly clean vegeta- 
ble oil. In a pure food competition 
it would stand first on the test at all 
times. Yet we are constantly havinsr 
some scheme sprung up to handicap 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, igoo. 



Ill 



cotton oil as a foodstuff in order to 
protect many impure and unhealtn- 
ful cooking greases, and I know that 
nobody would welcome a pure food 
bill more than the cotton oil people, 
and nobody would abhor the use of 
a pure food sentiment to promote im- 
pure stuffs more man the cotton oil 
people. 

"The country cannot furnish mar- 
kets for our products. Our markets 
are already extended to Italy, France, 
Holland, Spain and every other coun- 
try in which oil is used as edible 
or cooking grease. Yet, past popula- 
tions knew nothing of the merits of 
our products. The older countries are 
willing enough to take our products, 
re-work and redistribute them. Why 
not urge our Government to pro- 
mote for us the development of these 
alternate markets for our own use? 
I urgently advise that we insist that 
our representatives in our State Leg- 
islature and in Congress shall give 
attention to our needs as to markets. 

"We need the Nicaragua Canal 
more than any other one class of 
men needs it. Its construction is 
right and a fair cnarge upon this 
Government. We ought to require of 
our representatives that they co- 
operate to get this great facility for 
more markets. 

"The new territory which we ac- 
quired by the Spanish war ought to 
make a good market for our products. 
In keeping this territory, the United 
States is making no departure from 
its accustomed policy. In supporting 
such a policy, we, as Southern peo- 
ple, are keeping with our ancestors. 
The acquisition of Louisiana, includ- 
ing vast northwestern territory of 
Florida, of California and adjacent 
territory of Texas, of the Gadsden 
purchase, were all Democratic meas- 
ures, practically carried through by 
Southern people. Omitting the 
Spanish possessions, Alaska is the 
only one ever made by Republicans. 
I conceive, therefore, that we may 
with perfect consistency support the 
proposition to keep these new posses- 
sions. It is more Democratic than 
Republican to do so. Democrats 
should not abandon D^oper ground 
simply because' Renublicans came on 
it. T have oointed out that the Re- 
publican Administration has come to 
favor Anglo-Saxon supremacy. You 



surely will not abandon the policy .of 
white rule at home because the Re- 
publicans have adopted it for Porco 
Rico and the Philippines. 

"This City of New Orleans did 
great work for markets for Southern 
goods with the great Exposition she 
so successfully organized and con- 
ducted. 

"The time for such efforts are now 
even riper than it was then. The 
City of Charleston is now executing 
plans for a great Exposition, which 
is to be especially directed to extend- 
ing trade in the West Indies and 
South America. 

Transportation. 

"We have the best domestic trans- 
portation facilities in the world. In, 
consequence, our domestic markets 
are the best in the world. Large 
quantities of our stuffs go to foreign 
countries. Our own vessels ought to 
carry these products under our own; 
flag. Until this is true, we will never 
get full values and our business will 
never extend as it ought to extend. 

"We subscribe money without hesi- 
tancy as gift, bonus, subscription or 
in any way to get a new line of rail- 
way. If we call it 'bonus,' 'subscript 
tion' or any name except 'subsidy,' It 
is all right. We need ships. WhF 
shrink at the word that means to get 
them? Of course, this means that 
if the Government gives a subsidy it 
must be honestly spent, and it must 
serve the purpose for which it is 
given, viz : create American ships wil- 
der the American flag. If we deal 
approximately as liberally with our 
foreign transportation facilities as 
we have done with the domestic ones, 
then we may look for proportionate 
foreign trade, which is what you 
want. 

"In the past, the most of our for* 
eign trade has been in raw material. 
England and Germany are willing 
enough to send their subsidized ships 
for our raw cotton at 6 cents a pound, 
but they will not long send them for 
our cotton goods at 20 cents a pound 
to compete in markets they now 
serve. Holland and France are will- 
ing enough to send ships for your 
oil at 25 cents a gallon, but not for 
your butter or salad oil, your soap 
or your sardines where the oil has 
been manipulated to be worth 50 
cents to $1 a gallon. As we develops 



112 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



our home markets for our own bene- 
fit, . so now having outgrown our 
home markets, we must develope our 
facilities to cover the world's mar- 
kets for our manufactured products. 
This means American ships to do our 
whole export carrying trade under 
the American flag. 

Influence of the Farmer. 
"The development of all manufac- 
tures are advantageous to the neigh- 
boring farmers. Those manufactur- 
ers, however, which make a home 
market, not only for food stuffs from 
adjacent farms, but also for their 
other staple products as raw mate- 
rials for the manufacturing business 
itself, becomes doubly advantageous. 
The cotton mill is thus advantageous 
' to the farmer in two ways, viz: in 
making new markets for his perish- 
able foodstuffs and in enhancing to 
some extent the value of his cotton. 
The cotton seed oil mill is still 
further advantageous. It makes the 
cattle business feasible and profita- 
ble and thereby puts the farmer in 
position to economically produce the 
beef which in turn the oil mill work- 
man is ready to buy. Even in this 
the advantage is not exhausted, for 
'-. in raising cattle the resultant man- 
ure being used on the soil, produces 
' more cotton and better cotton than 
could be done with commercial ferti- 
lizers alone — useful and even neces- 
.sary as these are. 

"We used to hear loud and con- 
. stant complaint about the deplorable 
< condition of the farmer. Wherever 
manufactures have been developed 
.this complaint is gradually dying. 
All manufactures are advantageous 
to the farmer, but the development 
of the cotton oil business has been 
most advantageous, and those advan- 
tages have been more generally dis- 
persed over the whole South and 
reached farther into the country. 

"Some of the trustees of the agri- 
cultural and mechanical colleges in 
the South have complained about the 
difficulty of keeping students in the 
agricultural courses. This seems to 
me to be a healthy condition and a 
desirable condition. The best help to 
the farmer lies not in turning out 
a competitor for him, but rather in 
qualifying as many men and women 
as possible to enter other pursuits 
-with profit, thus making new mar- 



kets for every variety of farm pro- 
ducts. 

"Nothing could be further from 
my intention than to advocate any 
diminution of agricultural education; 
on the contrary, I am convinced that 
it is only by liberal expenditures on 
the part of the cotton States for agri- 
cultural education that the monopoly 
In the production of cotton for the 
world's supply has been maintained. 
Even at present low prices, Egypt 
and India are pushing us, while the 
production of the crop at these prices 
have been made possible by the agri- 
cultural colleges, the boards of fer- 
tilizer control, experiment stations 
and other similar means. 

"The cotton oil mill has been an 
important factor in helping the 
farmer to keep ahead in the competi- 
tion of producing cotton at low 
prices. The cotton factory is an- 
other important help in furnishing 
regular work to organizations of la- 
bor who can pay for and consume 
the products of the farm. 

"Therefore, I conclude, that the 
best help that can now be rendered to 
the farmer to improve his condition 
is: 

"First. Keep up agricultural edu- 
cation and extend it in every way 
possible. 

"Second. Foster manufacturing un- 
til every agricultural community has 
its oil mill, its cotton mill and other 
auxiliary industries. 

"It is only by this complete and 
rounded development that the great- 
est prosperity will come. 

"Abandon feudal methods and co- 
operate with the tendency to im- 
proved methods and higher ideas. 
Build further to the excellent work 
you have already done. Introduce 
education into your organization. 
Seek new tnd greater values in your 
products. Work together to get bet- 
ter legislation and to resist vicious 
and injurious legislation. In this 
our fight is the farmer's fight. Our 
interests and those of the farmer are 
common and cannot be separatea. 
Your neighboring farmers are going 
into beef and butter, using your 
meal and hulls as food. Therefore 
as to butter and lard, your interests 
and their's are still identical. 
Banking. 

"All the talk and writing about 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



113 



money and banking mean one thing. 
When the home manufacturer wants 
to buy cotton seed, the home bank 
ought to be able to help him. Re- 
discounts in a big money centre 
ought not to be necessary. England 
has for centuries wanted re-discount 
paper for Scotland, but the wary 
Scotchman has always insisted upon 
handling his own re-discounts. On 
the other hand, the Irishman re- 
discounts in London. The advantage 
should be at once apparent. 

"Our national bank law should be 
so amended as to show the issue of 
bank notes on a gold basis and with 
the Government guarantee of these 
notes in return for a tax of 1 per 
cent, on them. 

"The late amendments to the 
banking law have been improve- 
ments, but the flexible feature has 
never yet been introduced. This 
feature is what you need and what 
the whole South needs. 

"The banking system of Canada 
has been very advantageous to that 
country. It has this feature of issu- 
ing notes on assets, and when we 
have a money squeeze in this coun- 
try, then quantities of our deposits 
go to Canadian banks for safety dur- 
ing the financial storm. 

"There need be nothing wild or 
risky in introducing such a feature 
into our system of finance. Every 



note issued would be of full gold 
value and would be redeemable at 
any and all times. 

Conclusion. 

"Gentlemen, permit me to compli- 
ment you as being the representa- 
tives of a business that is purely 
Southern; one in the development 
of which you have neither assistance 
nor advice. You have proven that 
home people at home can do what 
any other people can do and even 
more. Push your work. Insist upon, 
the colleges of your States teaching 
your industry. Insist upon your poli- 
ticians promoting legislation to ex- 
tend your markets. Insist upon, 
ocean transportation facilities to 
handle your products and fight for 
the flexible feature in your horn© 
banking facilities. 

"I thank you for your invitation.' 1 " 
(Applause.) 

Before resuming his seat, Mr. Tom- 
kins remarked: "There is a gentle- 
man here who desires to talk to you 
about the Charleston Exposition. 
Now, Charleston is going to under- 
take to bring the people of the North 
and West down and place them in, 
touch with the people of South Amer- 
ica and Porto R'co, so that they may 
see the products of our section and 
we may see the product of theirs." 
(Applause.) 



CHARLESTON EXPOSITION 



BY C. S. GADSDEN. 



Mr. Gadsden then spoke as follows, 
describing the objects and scope of 
the Charleston Exposition: 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I am re- 
joiced that I have been privileged to 
listen to so many instructive speeches 
indicating the great industrial ad- 
vancement which is going on in the 
Southern States. This great develop- 
ment of the country should have 
some practical outcome. It should 
not be lost in words Put embodied in 
an Exposition. We now offer you, 
gentlemen, an opportunity to see 
such an Exposition at Charleston. 
Considering the internecine war 
which distracted the country thirty 
years ago, there never has been such 



in this world as the development of 
the South. She has not only been 
able to follow but in some matters is 
even able to lead. Now, gentlemen, 
I hold that it is a most important 
factor in our progress that we should 
have from year to year these exposi- 
tions. The Southland has had very 
few opportunities such as we pro- 
pose to give to present her material 
advantages and progress to the 
world. (Applause.) 

"We are now beginning to put 
things in order at Charleston and the 
foundation stone will soon be laid 
of the West Indian Exposition, whicn 
will be held in our city from Dec. 
1st, 1901, to May 31st, 1902. We trust 
that in a year from now we will have 



114 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



all you ladies and gentlemen with us 
as visitors. I now extend a sin- 
cere invitation to all of you to visit 
us on this occasion, and not only to 
visit us, but also take part in the 
Exposition." (Applause.) 



A motion endorsing the Charles- 
ton Exposition was then passed 
unanimously, and it being now 5 o'- 
clock, the Convention adjourned un- 
til 7.30 P. M. 



WEDNESDAY NIGHT SESSION 




MAYOR J. W. RIGGINS, OF WACO, TEXAS. 

INDUSTEIAL COMMISSIONERS EOR THE SOUTH. 

BY MAYOR J. W. RIGGINS. 



President Hargrove m the chair. 

President Hargrove: The subject 
of "Industrial Commissioners for the 
South" will be eloquently discussed 
by my friend, Mayor J. W. Riggins, 



of Waco, Tex., who is President of 
the Texas Real Estate and Industrial 
Association. Mayor Riggins' well 
known ability to give expression to 
his views will make his speech one 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-/, ipou. 



115 



4hat must prove of interest to all of 
you. 

Mayor J. W. Riggins, of Waco, 
Texas, spoke as follows: 

"Mr. President, Ladies and Gentle- 
men: I have been an advocate of in- 
dustrialism for years. It is no new 
thing, and it is no new thought, but 
it affords me great pleasure to meet 
you in this Convention assembled for 
the purpose of discussing these im- 
portant questions. I Delieve that we 
are on the eve of great commercial 
prosperity. When I was at school at 
Columbus University, Missouri, It 
■was the time of the year when 
the Missouri State Legislature 
sent a committee to that in- 
stitution to find out its condition, 
and they sent a committee headed 
by the speaker of the house, Col. J. 
D. Boone. Col. Boone came to the 
University as a self-made man. He 
announced when he arrived that it 
was the first institution of learning 
he was ever in. Now, on the college 
campus there were various buildings 
located, reserved for different pur- 
poses. Col. Boone arrived very early 
in the morning and he was taken 
around by one of the professors and 
shown over the institution. 'Vot you 
sees over there on the blackboard 
shows for vot we keeps the boys and 
girls coming to school: how much 
salt and iron there is in the sun- 
shine.' Col. Boone stepped back and 
said with amazement, 'My God! is 
that what we are keeping up this in- 
stitution for? I thought that the 
State of Missouri was maintaining 
"this institution, not to find out how 
much iron and salt there was in a 
sunbeam, but how much bread and 
meat our boys and girls could be 
taught to extract from the earth.' 
(Laughter and applause.) 

"The topic I will discuss before 
you to-night is 'Industrial Commis- 
sioners for the South:' men who 
should be appointed and selected by 
each State for the purpose of im- 
pressing, arousing, istimulatine: and 
tpaching the various communities of 
the South and our neonle how tbev 
can nroducp a dollar out of F> cents 
worth of cotton: and how thev can 
takp the iron and various orodu n ts 
T-r-hipv, WP fj nr i jrt ab^nrlanco in the 
■South anri make then v^'iabl^. 
thereby making ourselves rich. A 



few years ago, to say in any foreign 
land 'I am an American citizen,' met 
with neither admiration nor respect. 
A fellow would answer, 'What d'ye 
say?' T am an American citizen.' 
'Yes, Imphm'm, you are.' To-day ex- 
actly the reverse is true; to-day, if 
you announce upon the soil of any 
civilized country in world, T am an 
American citizen,' tne other fellow 
takes off his hat, 'Yes, sir; I am 
your servant.' A few years ago to 
use or wear American goods was a 
brand upon you of shoddyism, but 
now our manufactured articles in all 
lines are sought after in all the mar- 
kets of the world. The locomotives 
from this country climbed the hither- 
to commercial Alps and heights with 
the Bonapartic American skill at the 
throttle. Iron-clad steamers and in- 
vulnerable gunboats plow the path- 
less seas, lashing the first waves 
upon the docks of our iron works, 
and the products of American skill 
and industry find their places every- 
where. Furniture, cotton goods, 
woolen goods, in fact, the products 
of American industry find their way 
in thousands to the markets of the 
civilized world. 

"If I was a newspaper man, a long 
time ago, I would have made a pic- 
ture 'before and after taking,' and 
the pills' would have been adminis- 
tered out of a Krupp or a Gatling gun 
by a Dr. Dewey or a Gen. Joe Wheel- 
er. It is in this way that American 
manhood is upheld and the most civil 
and cordial treatment that is ac- 
corded any nation on the earth is 
now given to the American citizen 
Before we can very well proceed to 
tell what is the matter with a pa- 
tient, it is necessary to diagnose his 
case. It is a very difficult thing for 
a doctor to administer the proper 
remedies to a patient who persist- 
ently refuses to develope the symp- 
toms of the disease from which he 
suffers. Let the South frankly and 
honestly admit that we need indus- 
trial, development and let us take our 
medicine. Mr. President, we need an 
industrial teacher in each of the 
Southern States to emphasize the 
themes that have been heard on this 
floor during the past two days, to 
reach the hearts and homes of the 
Southern people everywhere. We 
need some one to teach our people 



116 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



that there are no limits to the in- 
genuity and energy of the American 
peopie, and let nothing rest until 
their goods find their way into the 
markets of the whole earth. 

"In the City of Mexico three years 
ago, I walked into a store and there 
I recognized a number of articles 
which had been manufactured in 
Boston and various parts of the 
United States. Although the origin 
of these goods was clear to me, yet 
they were branded London, Liverpool 
and Paris. I asked a merchant why 
they had to come around through 
that country and bear a heavy tariff, 
to which he replied that it was neces- 
sary that the goods should bear the 
brand of these cities and evidence 
of foreign importation in order to sell 
them. To-day that is not the case. 
The Southern people should take this 
then as a warning that they are to 
occupy a higher position in the indus- 
trial world, and that nations other 
than our own will bid them to come 
up higher. Our Southern peopie 
seem to fear an over-production, but 
with the open door poiicy and with 
the increasing demand for American 
products as they come from our in- 
dustrial hands, there is no room for 
fear on that score. Tom Thumb 
made his fortune out of his shape; 
you cannot, the South cannot. Go- 
ing up the street one day in our 
town, I saw a fellow fumbling around 
a fire alarm box trying to get a let- 
ter in, but the letter would not go in 
the fire alarm box. To do a thing 
right, you have got to go the right 
way about it. The South has got to 
take up a new and more forcible po- 
sition. The time has passed when 
the South can make its progress by 
leaning on the nigger, the mule and 
the plow. (Applause.) Gentlemen, 
that is past, the shape would not 
work, the letter would not go into 
the fire alarm box, nor can the South 
industrially develope by means of 
the negro, the mule and the plow. 
I have no apologies to make for the 
South; I am not here to befog or be- 
wilder or startle any one with a lot 
of statistics. I am here for the pur- 
pose of emphasizing the importance 
of each Southern State having an in- 
dustrial commissioner. One of the 
highest compliments ever paid the 
speaker in his own rftate is that he 



receives a number of papers from, 
every part of the country addressed 
as follows: 'J. W. Riggins of and 
for Texas.' I am Here, of and for 
the South, I am for Texas in partic- 
ular, but I lift my heart and hand 
and voice and say, T am for this 
Union forever.' (Applause.) I intro- 
duce myself to you to-night, gentle- 
men, as wearing a suit of clothes 
that was taken in raw material from 
a Texas sheep's back that grazed 
upon the black sand prairies of 
Texas, richer far than the valleys of 
the Nile. From the siieep's back the 
wool passed into the Waco Woolen 
Mills, from whence it found its way 
on to my back. This is a Texas 
home-made suit of clothes, bought in 
Waco, Tex. (Applause.) I would 
not let a barber shave me who did 
not do something to support my 
town, and I would not let one do it 
in New Orleans either if he did not 
do something for New Orleans. (Ap- 
plause.) 

"I was born in Missouri, but have 
been in Texas 22 years. I have 
watched with patriotic pride the long 
strides from the six-shooter ruffian 
to the highly cultivated and refined 
citizenship of the present day. By 
energy, skill, grit and enterprise, 
Texas stands out to-day a people 
with as much refinement and intel- 
ligence as any State in this Union. 
(Applause.) I am not here to talk 
Texas specially, but I only use it 
when it comes to a point of illus- 
tration. I bring to you no new theo- 
ries, no new thoughts; but I come to* 
you as an humble citizen of a South- 
ern State to plead with you. Let 
us leave the old way, and set out 
upon the path of the new and better 
way. I want to see Texas, Louisiana, 
Mississippi, Georgia, S. Carolina, N. 
Carolina and the other Southern 
States; I want to see each of them 
lined up in a solid phalanx of in- 
dustrial progress, in a grand pro- 
cession marching onward and up- 
ward on the road to success. (Ap- 
plause.) 

"A few years ago, I left my State 
and spent several weeks making ob- 
servations in various parts of the 
United States, and upon returning to 
Texas, several of the newspapers in- 
terviewed me and asked the ques- 
tion, 'What do you think Texas most 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



117 



aieeds?' Now, gentlemen, this is not 
political at all, but I am going to 
-give you my answer. I replied: 
'What Texas most needs is 500,000 
Yankee Republicans to help develope 
■the greatest country on earth from 
an industrial standpoint. (Applause.) 
Mr. President, would not that put 
us in line? You need not commit 
yourself unless you /want to. I want 
to say too, gentlemen, In it one ol 
the greatest drawbacks in our own 
State is that a living is a great deal 
too easily made. In Texas, it is too 
•easy to make money. A living seems 
to knock at the door of every man, 
and all that a fellow has to do is to 
say 'come in and take a seat, 5 with 
emphasis on the seat. I don't know 
sometimes when I think of the pros- 
perity that we have, I don't know 
whether I am really in a Southern 
State or a Western State. When I 
think of Georgia, S. Carolina, and of 
Texas, with all her grit and skill 
and 'get there,' as Sam Jones says, 
I sometijr.es feel that I am in a 
Western State or that I am going 
there as fast as I can. In fact, I 
hardly know whether to call Texas 
and some of the other Southern 
States, Southern or Western States, 
for lately pluck, grit and enterprise 
lias pervaded them to such an ex- 
tent that it is difficult to distinguish. 
Still we are even yet not thoroughly 
awake to industrial development. I 
tell you, ladies and gentlemen, we 
want to abandon past methods, past 
practices, abandon past failures, and 
then burn the bridges. We want to 
"welcome the gray streaks of a dawn- 
ing of an industrial day. We want 
to write on the door of the past the . 
same lines that the Kansas farmer 
did. After spending a year upon his 
crop, it was consumed by the grass- 
hoppers; the next year he pitched his 
crop and lived only to see it de- 
stroyed by the drought and the Kan- 
sas hot winds. Renewing his cour- 
age and energy, he thought to him- 
self 'I will try it again for a third 
year, and after faithfully working 
and cultivating his crop, one sum- 
mer evening as he sat in his cottaee 
door while nature seemed to smile 
upon him, and the sun was casting 
"his last lingering look and kissing a 
farewell to all nature's beauties. As 
"be gazed around on the delightful 



scene, he looked at his wife and 
children and felt happy. Amidst 
these happy meditations, he looked 
upward and in the West he saw a 
murky, inky cloud, which, in a few 
moments, came as a Kansas cyclone 
and wiped his crops off the face of 
the earth. Next morning, having 
concluded that farming there was a 
failure, he got together his nouse- 
hold effects and said to his wife, 'JLet 
us go.' But before leaving, he 
turned to his cottage door and wrote 
the following lines: 
Kansas farm, farewell, 

I bid you a long adieu, 
I may go to hell 

But I will never come back to 
you. (Laughter and applause.) 
Gentlemen, semi-occasionally the 
Southern farmer gets a big crop, 
but he needs an industrial commis- 
sioner to impress upon him and upon 
the business men of the South the 
necessity for writing upon the door 
of their past experience the lines of 
the Kansas farmer. The farmers 
must join with the business men to 
manufacture their products into fab- 
rics and articles which will bring 
100 to 1000 fold greater percentage 
values than they produce in the raw 
state. Twenty-two years ago I 
spent 13 months traveling over the 
State of Texas. One day I drove up 
to a small gin and saw a fellow 
heaving the cotton seed into his fur- 
nace. I laid my hand on his shoul- 
der and said, 'Sir, the time will come 
when every 100 pounds of cotton seed 
will be of more value to th-3 human 
race than 100 pounds of wheat. The 
time will come when a man will be 
regarded as foolish wno burns his 
cotton seed to save the lint, as the 
man who runs the thresher would 
burn the wheat to save the straw.' 
Now, ladies, you must excuse me. 
The man looked at me in astonish- 
ment, and replied, 'Stranger, you are 
either a newcomer or a damn fool.' 
The time was when cotton seed was 
regarded as an impediment, as a 
worthless, impertinent product. It 
was regarded as the saw-mill-man 
regards the saw dust. It was thrown 
away anywhere as all the use they 
had for it was to get it out of the 
way. Let us see to what extenf. my 
prophesy of 22 years ago has been 
verified. According to the system of 



118 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



the Agricultural Experimental Sta- 
tion, the relative varue of one hun- 
dred pounds of wheat and one hun- 
dred pounds of cotton seed are as 
follows: 

Wheat— Protein, 11.87; Carbohy- 
drates, 73.69; Fat, 2.09. Value, 
$1.00. 
Cotton Seed— Protein, 17.57, Carbohy- 
drates, 73.69; Fat, 3.04. Value 
$1.39. 
"So you will see that while the 
total value of one hundred pounds of 
wheat is $1.00, the total value of one 
hundred pounds of cotton seed is 
$1.39. Now I wish you would just 
put that in your pipe and smoke it. 
We need an industrial commissioner 
in the South to impress this and a 
thousand other lessons upon the 
minds of the people o" this country 
who believe it to be one of the grand- 
est products in all this land. I may 
be a new comer, but I was not the 
other thing. Do you know that the 
amount of cotton seed produced in 
the South only lacks two-sevenths of 
as many bushels of wheat as is raised 
in the United States? According to 
the United States Department of Ag- 
riculture for the seasons of 1897 and 
1898, the wheat yield per acre was 
13 2-5 bushels, while the yield of 
cotton seed was 14.1 per acre, and 
yet poor old cotton seed was re- 
garded as useless and every one that 
came along gave it a kick and said, 
'go to— Dublin.' I want to say to 
you, gentlemen, that the most un- 
just tax ever imposed upon a com- 
modity in the Unites States was that 
tax of 2 cents per pound placed on 
the oil product of cotton seed, which 
enters largely into the composition 
of artificial butter; and I want to 
say to you, gentlemen, that the 
Southern States need an industrial 
commissioner to go before Congress 
and hasten to correct this before ten 
cents per pound is imposed upon the 
products which enter into the com- 
position of the poor man's butter of 
to-day. Gentlemen, this is some of 
the practical work which this In- 
dustrial Convention ought to do. I 
hold up the cotton seed product be- 
cause it intensely illustrates what 
I mean. Of all the products of the 
South and of the country, the cot- 
ton, with its lint, its cotton seed and 
cotton stalks, will be a greater fac- 



tor in the enrichment of this nation, 
than anything else that grows upon 
our soil. I undertake to say that an 
Industrial Commissioner appointed 
or elected by the State, should visit 
communities and teach them that the 
fellow who comes from a foreign 
land or the New England States is u,±i. 
insincere economist, wno teas you 
that the South is a very good place 
for produce sheep, cattle, cotton, or,, 
as I said before, for the nigger, the 
mule and the plow, but a very poor 
place for cotton mills, oil refineries, 
furniture factories or the other man- 
ufactures which go to make a coun- 
try rich and its people independent. 
He will tell you these things, but 
don't you believe sucn stuff. The 
ten million bales of cotton produced 
by the South at $40,00 per bale means 
$400,000,000.00. At a conservative es- 
timate, this cotton, if manufactured 
into articles, would be worth $15;; 
a bale. Thus the entire cotton crop 
of the South would bring one an : 
one-half billion dollars. In addition 
to this, there would be, in r 
numbers, 400,000,000 bushels of cot- 
ton seed, or, placing a lower esti- 
mate than is placed by the United 
States Agricultural Department, this 
would add over one and one-half 
million dollars to the value of the 
cotton crop. (Applause.) Startling 
as these figures and facts may seem 
to you, they only illustrate what 
might be said also of iron, of tim- 
ber, of marble, of coal, and a thous- 
and other products of the South out 
of which foreign countries and New 
England are daily growing rich. It 
only needs the Southern people to 
awaken to a full sense of the situa- 
tion, for then by means of their skill, 
energy and grit, they will manufac- 
ture these products themselves and 
thus receive the benefit which is now 
enjoyed bv others. (Applause.) The 
time will come when the cotton stalk 
will make the t.wine which bind^ 
the thousands of packages that are 
sent over thip country. It will make 
the paper uoon which is spread the 
dailv news before the neople of the 
civilized world. Now call me a new- 
comer. (Annlause.) The time will 
come when the corn cob? now thrown 
under foot and the sawdust which is 
p'ther burned or dumped into the 
flowing mill stream, will be con- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



119 



verted into fire kindling and used 
upon the hearths of ail the homes 
in this country. We need an indus- 
trial teacher that will hold these 
things up with such an abundance of 
illustration that these truths may be 
brought home to the minds of the 
Southern people, homespuu and 
homely as they ma? be. As an illus- 
tration o; the value of this oificer, 
less than a year ago, your speaker, 
as President of the Texas Real Es- 
tate and Industrial Association, en- 
gaged the services of our honored 
President, Hon. H. H. Hargrove, to 
visit numerous places in Texas with 
the object of instructing and arous- 
ing the people on the subject of cot- 
ton mills. He visited about 40 places 
in the State and in that brief time 
some 30 localities were induced to 
take their money, then idle, from the 
banks and hiding places, with the 
result that there is to-day in the 
neighborhood of $3,000,000 invested 
in cotton mills in the State of Texas. 
This was the result of the labors of 
this patriotic man who sits here as 
your President to-night. (Applause.) 
I hold this up as one of the impor- 
tant points, that each State needs 
an industrial commissioner who will 
take the people and show them these 
things. Less than a year ago I made 
an address in the City of San An- 
tonio, and within a short time there- 
after numerous people from other 
•cities and towns came to me and of- 
fered to pay me almost any amount 
if I would repeat my address before 
their respective communities. (Ap- 
plause.) I know the people could 
have reasoned the value of this en- 
terprise, but what they needed was 
a teacher to emphasize and arouse 
them to the -importance of industrial 
effort. Up till now, not a dollar has 
been spent to show our people how 
to get the money out of the raw 
material. If the Southern Industrial 
Convention, now assembled in the 
City of New Orleans, can succeed in 
stimulating and arousing the inter- 
ests of Southern capitalists so tbM 
they will' take up this matter of man- 
ufacturing the raw material that will 
make them and yourselves rich, it 
will be the grandest work of all your 
lives and this Convention will be a 
grand success. 

"You know that steam had almost 



unlimited power long before James 
Watt ever saw it lift the lid of the 
traditional tea kettle. You know also 
that lightning existed, played its zig- 
zag course, lured the attention, at- 
tracted the admiration and voiced it- 
self in muttering thunders among 
the valleys and hills of old as it does 
now, but it waited for a long time 
for the mind of a Franklin to bring 
it within the grasp and utility of 
mankind. Sound vibrated for thous- 
ands of years against the air but it 
took the genius of an Edison to ena- 
ble you by means of electrical mo- 
mentum to pour an articulate sound 
into my ear from a distance of a 
thousand miles; so that my wife a 
thousand miles from here could make 
herself heard to me while I am in 
this city. 

"The laws of gravitation were 
born when God flung this universe 
with a million of worlds into infi- 
nite space, yet untold ages rolled by 
before Newton discovered this great 
law by means of the falling of an 
apple and published it to the world. 
(Applause.) We need an industrial 
commissioner who will not only 
bring the figures and experience from 
other States and nations, but who 
can put his ear to the keyhole of 
nature and tell the people that she 
has secrets to give to this generation 
and to the South, discoveries to be 
revealed as brilliant and as valuable 
as any that have been unveiled in 
the past. We need an industrial com- 
missioner who will read 'the hand- 
writing on the wall,' and interpret it 
to the people of the South, so that 
'he who runs may read.' We need 
an industrial commissioner who will 
plan and prepare for these things 
until something is done. I tell you, 
my friends, there are communities 
who appear to be indifferent to the 
welfare of their kind, but you here 
can go to your homes and rouse your 
people until something definite is ac- 
complished. The marble and granite 
of Georgia for years lay silent under 
the soil. The cattle with hides to 
make our shoes grazed upon the hills 
and in the valleys. The sheep with 
his domestic bleat and bnrden of 
wool ninned the worthless leaf from 
the foil-burdening weed. The sturdy 
oak and stately pine lifted their tow- 
ering heads toward the heavens 



120 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention 



with timber trunks sufficient and 
grand enough to make the furniture 
for the pressed brick mansion or the 
humbie cottage. Iron ore to make 
the locomotive or me needle slept 
upon the mountain side. The poor 
clay-clods had fallen in upon many a 
corpse, and created many a mound 
in the State of Georgia, the song of 
'hard times' wi'th a sigh of oppres- 
sion came from homes all over the 
South, because of industrial dearth, 
until aroused by the grave condi- 
tions, that grand patriot, that Moses 
of the industrial New South, the 
first industrial teacher, the lamented 
Henry W. Grady, discovered these 
conditions and proclaimed his elo- 
quent message to the land. His 
thoughts and words have been 
burned into the hearts and memories 
of the Southern people and carved 
in box letters upon the car of pro- 
gress. It remained for Mr. Grady to 
emphasize and impress as a patriotic 
teacher when he gave utterance to 
these eloquent words, which I will 
now quote: 

" 'I stood by the side of a grave in 
Georgia, and although it was dug 
through solid marble, the little slab 
which marked the resting place 
came from Vermont. Surrounding 
the grave were splendid grazing 
lands upon which browsed both cat- 
tle and sheep, but the woolen shroud 
that the dead man wore came from 
Boston and the shoes from Lynn. 
While Georgia is covered with for- 
ests and timber, the coffin came from 
Cincinnati and the hearse from Chi- 
cago. And while the hills are full 
of iron ore, the pick and shovel to 
dig the grave came from Pittsburg, 
and the only thing that Georgia fur- 
nished was the corpse and the hole 
in the ground.' " 

"The?e words were spoken years 
ago and sounding all through the 
South a general awakening was pro- 
duced. They were written in the 
memory and ringing in the ears of 
the Southern people and have done 
more than all speeches put together 
to arouse Georgia and the South 
and encourage them to make an ef- 
fort for the establishment of indus- 
trial pursuits. Notwithstanding that 
Henry W. Grady sleeps beneath the 
sod to-day, yet his words, like a two- 
edged sword, are marching on each 



day with gathered strength and do- 
ing their work in the South. And,, 
although no costly monument marks 
his grave, yet his name is marked 
on the hearts and memory of the 
Southern people. 

"Last summer I stood upon a for- 
est hill in the City of San Francisco, 
and as I looked upon that colossal 
monumental shaft that marks the 
burial place of a rich man, I saw un- 
der the shaft a humble monument 
which bore the words, 'He died in 
the interest of humankind.' I said 
to my wife, I would rather have a 
slab like that to rest over my grave 
than to have that towering monu- 
ment, which lifts itself over the body 
of a dead millionaire. I had rather 
preach the doctrine of an industrial 
South as did Mr. Grady and die like 
him with a simple grave covered 
with lovely flowers than neglect my 
duty and lie beneath a costly monu- 
ment. Just as long as God reigns 
in heaven, just as long as the indus- 
trial South marches on, just so long 
will the monument of Grady be 
bright in the effulgence of the noon- 
day sun. An industrial commissioner 
is necessary to fasten these facts 
upon the people. The music of the 
spindle and the chorus of the fac- 
tory whistle are largely due to the 
words and efforts of Grady. The 
South will never achieve its great- 
ness and' join the grand procession. 
to enrich this nation as it should 
until the raw material product is 
manufactured into commercial pro- 
ducts for home and abroad; nor will 
this period be speedily brought about 
unless we have an. industrial com- 
missioner in each State to instruct 
the people and to impress them 
with these lessens through the 
medium of the press, leading them 
to industrial enterprises and to the 
establishment of a State Textile and 
Industrial School. This movement 
must culminate in the grandest tex- 
tile university in the world. We 
need an industrial commissioner in 
every State to preach the gospel of 
industrial liberty, to preach the nec- 
essity of pluck and enterprise and to 
lead them from Cimmerian raw ma- 
terial darkness into the happy Ca- 
naan land of industrial prosperity. 
(Loud and prolonged applause.) 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



121 



The Committee on Industrial Com- 
missioners for the South submitted 
the following report, which was 
adopted: 

"Mr. President and Members of the 
Southern Industrial Convention: 

"Your Committee to whom was re- 
ferred the subject of industrial com- 
missioners for the South, report as 
follows: / 

"We . believe that an industrial 
commissioner for each Southern 
state, appointed by the governor or 
elected by the legislature of that 
state would greatly and favorably 
faciliate industrial conditions by 
emphasizing and teaching our people 
the importance and value of manu- 
facturing our raw material and the 
imperative necessity of patronizing 



borne industry, therefore: 

Resolved, That we recommend to 
the governor and legislature of each 
state, the creation of the office of 
industrial commissioner, so that 
every possible incentive and encour- 
agement may be given to the citi- 
zens of the various states in the 
manufacture of the raw material 
that we may receive the full bene- 
fits and from year to year grow 
richer and more prosperous as the re- 
sult of our own labor. 

Resolved, 2nd; That the president 
and secretary are hereby instructed 
and requested over their names fur- 
nish these resolutions to each gov- 
ernor of the Southern States. 
Very respectfully submitted, 
J. W. RIGGINS, Chairman, 
DOUGLAS GLESSNER. 



COMPULSORY ARBITRATION. 

BY DR. F. W. COLE, OF WACO, TEXAS. 



Dr. F. W. Cole, of Waco, Tex., read 
the following paper on "Compulsory 
Arbitration:" 

"Mr. President, Ladies and Gentle- 
men: 

"The paramount issue before the 
American people is not free silver 
nor imperialism, nor the tariff, but 
it is the adjustment of the relations 
between capital and labor on a ba- 
sis of equity which shall be per- 
manent. I assure you that any ad- 
justment which is not based on 
equity will not be permanent. 

One of the greatest nations of an- 
tiquity was that of Persia, and cue 
foundation of that mighty empire 
was made on a few virtues which 
were taught to the youth as the 
foundation of their education. Every 
youth was taught to ride the horse, 
to shoot straight and speak the 
truth. When we come to examine 
the American people we do not find 
them lacking in any of those quali- 
ties. They can ride the horse, at 
least, the people from my State. 
They can shoot straight, at least, 
the people from my State, and if the 
rest of the Southern people cannot 
do the same, it is because they have 
degenerated. 

"Do you see the beautiful decora- 
tions of this hall? Do you see the 
Star Spangled Banner, the most 



beautiful that ever floated to the 
breeze. It has floated over this beau- 
tiful city for nigh onto one hun- 
dred years, and it will continue to 
do so, God willing, for ten thousand 
years as a monument to the straight 
shooting of American men. If it had 
not been so, instead would have been 
floating the Cross of St. George. 

"To those physical qualities we 
possess the Persian virtue of truth 
speaking, and besides we possess 
those Christian virtues of philan- 
thropy and love of fellow man such 
as the world has never seen. 

"I am not a pessimist, thank 
God! I agree with Abraham Lincoln 
that the American people can be 
trusted to hold the scales of justice 
evenly balanced between capital and 
labor so that those two great forces 
shall move in harmony to make 
this great country of ours the rich- 
est, freest, and greatest on God's 
foot-stool. As to the South, does any 
Southern man doubt that our peo- 
ple have the capacity to solve this 
problem when he considers the tri- 
bulations that we have come through 
during the past thirty-five years? 
When the great conflict between the 
states ended, the South came forth 
from the valley of battles and death. 
Beyond her was the smoke of battles, 
homes wrecked by fire and sword, 



122 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



and the graves of ner loved sons. 
Her garments were tattered and 
soiled, ner eye,* were full of weeping 
for tiie loved ones who were not. 
The soft Dreezes from the ocean 
came and blew the smoke of batues 
away, the rains came down from the 
heavens and levetect the trenches 
that scarred the land. The gentle 
dews fell, and nature covered the 
scars of the earth and the mounds 
of the dead with a mantle of green, 
and time with her gentle, but ever 
changing touch, after thirty-five 
years, raises the curtain upon an- 
other scene, the most beautiful that 
ever unfolded to mortal eyes. 

"We see the South dignified and 
beautiful as ever, but her garments 
are no longer tattered— she is decked 
in garments spotless and white as 
the driven snow, woven in her own 
looms. And she is crowned with a 
tiara of jewels more valuable than 
that of all the monarchs that ever 
lived. Behold the value of her 
jewels, $1,500,000,000. The tears from 
her eyes have been wiped away, her 
face beams with an effulgent hap- 
piness and her eyes sparkle as she 
views her broad domain, smiling 
with peace and plenty. The earth 
is filled with the music of lowing 
herds on a thousand hills, the hum 
of the spindle, the thunder of the 
iron horse, the swish and crash of 
plane and saw, and from every plan- 
tation, with the song of the mocking 
bird, comes up the old melodies, 
'Suwanee Ribber' and 'The Old Kain- 
tucky Home.' The rivers are bur- 
dened with rich commerce bearing it 
to all the ports, which are filled with 
the ships from the uttermost parts 
of the earth. 

"Now if the pessimist looked upon 
this scene he would see coming up 
out of the sea a dragon, breathing 
fire and destruction to devour this 
beautiful Andromeda, if some Per- 
seus did not appear to slay the drag- 
on, which typifies the conflict, so- 
called, between capital and labor. 
I do not exactly see tbe dragon, 
though he may be coming up out of 
the sea, neither am I a Perseus, but I 
wish to submit a resolution for the 
consideration of this convention, 
which appears to me to be a solu- 
tion of the problem. 

"Resolved, that it is the sense of 



this convention that the controver- 
sies between capital and labor, or be- 
tween employer and employe, are in. 
most cases due to a mutual misun- 
derstanding, or else to violations of 
contract, not of sufficient record or o£ 
statutory force. 

"This convention, therefore, moved- 
by the love of justice and the peace 
and prosperity of poor and rich 
alike, recommends that each state 
shall enact laws requiring that every 
agreement or contract for labor or 
service, shall be .written or printed 
in duplicate, and signed by both 
employer and employe, and wit- 
nessed, where one or both parties to 
the contracts may be unable to read. 
Each contract should be as full and 
explicit as possible. 

"The convention would recommend 
that the state furnish blank forms 
at cost, on the back of which snoull 
be printed if possible, any 3tat ites 
or references to such statutes, as 
are enacted for the enforcement of 
such contracts. Also the causes. 
which may justify the abrogation of 
such contracts. 

"In order that the state may en- 
force such contracts, the parties to- 
such should be required to give bond 
or surety for the faithful perform- 
ance of said contracts, in order that. 
the balance of justice may be held. 
evenly between capital and labor, or 
employer and employe. 

"The convention would resommend' 
that labor should be protected by en- 
lightened laws in accordance with 
science and the spirit of the age, 
such as the prohibition of child labor, 
or women during such time as they 
are unfitted by nature. 

"This convention is firmly per- 
suaded that the intelligent, high 
priced American labor is the best 
and the cheapest that exists in the 
world, and that to it is due our su- 
premacy as a productive nation, and 
any legislation which does not have 
in view the elevation and betterment 
of labor should be depreciated as 
inimical to the best interests of the 
state. 

"Instead of opposing, the state 
should encourage fraternal or bene- 
volent organizations of labor, which 
have for their object the elevation or 
betterment of the laboring classes, 
mentally or morally. 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



12$ 



"The convention would recommend 
that like encouragement be extended 
to oganized capital so important for 
the development of our country, so 
long as such organizations are ben- 
eficient and do not violate the rights 
of others. Such legislation is recom- 
mended in the belief that it would 
maintain equitable relations between 
the employer and employe and per- 
petuate the happiness and prosperity 
of our people." (Applause.) 

Mr. Clarence Ously (of Texas): I 
move that we now proceed to con- 
sider the report of the Committee on 
Permanent Organization, which was 
the special order for this morning at 
9 o'clock. 

Mr. Coffin (of Florida): I would 
like to hear another speaker upon 
the subject now under discussion, 
and I think it would be very mucn 
better to defer the report until t^e 
morning hour. Let the subject of 



labor and capital be finished at leasts.- 
I move as an amendment to- Mr*.. 
Ously's motion that the subject o£ 
Permanent Organization be taken up 
in the morning before the commence- 
ment of the morning exercises. 

President Hargrove: It is moved 
and seconded that the question of 
Permanent Organization be taken up 
in the morning. All those in favor 
please say "aye," those against 'no* 
— the 'ayes' have it; it is so ordered. 

I now have the pleasure of intro- 
ducing to you as the next speaker 
the man who created this conven- 
tion. He is the secretary of the 
Huntsville Chamber of Commerce, 
and this convention sprung into ex- 
istence through his agency. I intro- 
duce to you Mr. N. F. Thompson, 
who will also address you on the sub- 
ject of compulsory arbitration. (Ap- 
plause.) 




COLONEL N. F. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF THE SOUTHERN 
INDUSTRIAL CONVENTION. 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



COMPULSORY ARBITRATION. 

BY COL. N. F. THOMPSON, 
Secretary of the Southern Industrial Convention. 



Colonel N. F. Thompson, Secretary 
of the Southern Industrial Conven- 
tion, then read the following paper 
on "Compulsory Arbitration:" 

"Mr. President and Gentlemen of 
the Convention: There is no mission 
which the Southern Industrial Con- 
vention has filled, no service it has 
rendered, nor benefits bestowed upon 
the people of the South that will 
compare with those which it may yet 
accomplish. 

"It has already fulfilled a mission 
'Of great usefulness to the South. 
It has rendered a service to the peo- 
ple of this section which would be 
difficult to overestimate in value, 
and it has conferred benefits which 
one can well unduly magnify, since 
these will be seen and felt through- 
out time, molding sentiment and in- 
fluencing to a higher destiny the 
lives and character of countless num- 
bers of our citizens. 

■"But great as the services already 
rendered may be to-day, valuable 
as they will be recognized to-mor- 
row, and as they must increase in 
the years to come, still they are only 
a part, and I may say the smallest 
part, of what it may yet be made to 
"bestow on the people of the South 

"Pardon me just a moment, as I 
refer you for consideration to the 
mission already fulfilled and the ser- 
vices already performed, and on 
which I have placed so high an es- 
timate. What means this assem- 
blage here to-day? What does this 
gathering signify? Why have we 
here on this occasion men of various 
pursuits and callings in life and from 
all portions of this fair land? It 
means, my friends, a change in the 
policy of this land, the result of 
which, perhaps, few of us here have 
even the faintest conception. It sig- 
nifies the speedier coming of the 
long promised dawn of a new era in 
the South. It means the death, and 
that you have come to the funeral of 
that old dynasty, whose perpetuity 
could have brought only effeminacy 
and slavery to a false standard of 



life to the young manhood of the 
South. It tells the world that you 
are here to usher in a new regime 
for the South, one that will teach 
our youth that not pride of birth, nor 
wealth, nor name, constitutes the 
standard of a noble manhood, but 
that honest labor and manly endea- 
vor are the only insignia of a true 
nobility ever yet vouchsafed from 
God to man! T hese are some of the 
services which I feel this meeting has 
rendered to the people of the South, 
and which gives significance to why 
you are here to-day. I am glad that 
I have lived to see this day, how glad 
no words that I can command will 
express, for under these newly-kin- 
dled influences I believe this South- 
land of ours is destined to achieve a 
career that will render her people 
the most prosperous, the most con- 
tented and the most highly favored 
by a benign providence of any others 
on the face of this old earth. I be- 
lieve, my friends, that such a future 
for the South is foreshadowed by 
this meeting, and that its coming 
will not be long delayed. 

" ' 'Tis coming up the steps of time, 
And this old world is growing 
brighter; 
We may not live to see the day, 
But high hopes make the heart 
throb lighter. 
We may be slumbering in the 
ground, 
When it awakes the world in won- 
der, 
Yet have we seen gathering round 
And heard its voice of living thun- 
der — 
'Tis coming! yes, 'tis coming.' " 

"But to reach this glorious accom- 
plishment there is yet much to be 
done. While we have a land abound- 
ing in matchless wealth, we may not 
garner its full harvest without a 
higher appreciation of the duties yet 
before us, and a stronger purpose 
to fulfill them. There is one basic 
principle underlying all industrial 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



125"-- 



life, that is as yet only imperfectly 
understood by our people, but whicii 
must be thoroughly known and her- 
oically applied before we can hope 
to build that grand superstructure, 
the plans and specifications of which 
we are here and now considering. 

"To construct that industrial edi- 
fice which is being mapped out for us 
to-day, the foundations must be 
properly laid, and it Is to those foun- 
dations that my brie'f talk shall be 
directed. 

"This basic principle which I have 
declared it is essential for us first 
to understand, has its essence in that 
divine edict pronounced against our 
first parents, when they were driven 
from the garden of Eden: 'By the 
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat 
bread.' That edict is symbolized in 
society to-day by these words: 'La- 
bor and Capital.' They are the foun- 
dations on which human society is 
laid. These are the joint factors 
that hold mankind together. They 
are the base of all human govern- 
ment. The savage must first be fed 
and clothed before he can be civil- 
ized, and so the child must be nursed 
and sustained before it can be taught 
and reared to manhood or woman- 
hood. And so, likewise, must the 
grown up children of society be first 
cared for in their natural and physi- 
cal wants, before civilization or gov- 
ernments of any kind can be thought 
of or hoped for. 

"Thus we see that it is of primal 
importance that these factors of hu- 
man life should occupy their proper 
positions of equal worth and mutual 
dependency in all reckoning with the 
affairs of mankind. 

"It is vital to both social and poli- 
tical life that these elements be 
placed and properly sustained by 
public sentiment and the laws of the 
land, where neither may harm the 
other, but where they will be twin 
pillars of strength in the upbuilding 
of our land. Now, he who would dis- 
turb this relationship of mutuality, 
be he who he may, is nothing less 
than a foe to government and an 
enemy to his race. 

"It is due you, and it is due myself, 
that I should s^v this much, in order 
to have my position on this question 
of labor and capital fully understood, 
for there are those who have mis- 



understood and misrepresented mjp 
position on this vital question of the 
hour. 

"While proclaiming my position 
as clearly as I know how to express 
it, I am still confronted with the fact 
that there are those in this country 
who have disturbed this relationship 
of mutuality between labor and cap- 
ital, and it is to this fact that I 
would now direct your attention. 
There are disturbances occurring all 
over the land, disturbances that are 
entailing burdens upon the public 
that should not be borne. We all 
know the scenes that were enacted 
in Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis 
during the past twelve months, and 
that they were further occasioned 
by and in behalf of organized labor. 
Hence it is incumbent on organized 
labor to aid any measure that will 
tend to prevent such scenes, if it 
would clear itself before the public 
of the responsibility which such dis- 
turbances entail upon it. Again, 
gentlemen, I am simply stating a 
fact, and it is with facts that we must 
deal. Pending the period when w© 
might hope to correct these evils, 
through a healthier public sentiment 
regarding the correct relation be- 
tween labor and capital, I think- 
there should be State and National 
courts of arbitration, to which all - 
disputes between labor and capital 8 
should be referred, and whose decis- 
ions should be binding between tn© ? 
parties affected, or, to be plainer, to • 
adopt a policy of compulsory arbi- 
tration for the settling of differences t 
between employers and employes. 
When you stop to consider that there - 
is no government of whatever kind 
or class, whether monarchial or re- 
publican, whether an aristocracy or 
what else you may choose to call it, 
that deserves the name of govern- 
ment, that does not already apply 
compulsory arbitration to all of 1 its 
subjects and for all purposes — save 
the one sole and single exception of 
labor and capital — you will be ready 
to ask with me, why should these be 
excepted? 

• "I wish to make this auestion fts 
simple and clear to you as it appears 
to me. and free it from all unneces- 
sary obstacles or difficulties in the 
way of its speedy and easy solution. 
Labor and capital are inherent antl 



126 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



co-equal factors in organized society 
as we find it to-day. It is possible 
to conceive of some remote period in 
the past when utilities were free an3 
available to all alike, but as no such 
conditions now exist, nor can they 
be relegated into any such primitive 
possibilities, we must take these es- 
sential and fixed ingredients of civil- 
ized life; and it seems to me, when 
that is done, this problem of labor 
and capital will be solved, for then 
neither will by ' permitted to ciaun 
exemption from those rules of gov- 
ernment that apply to all other sub- 
jects. 

"The trouble is that both, through 
some tacit custom, which has so long 
been acquiesced in that it takes on 
the form and force of an unwritten 
Saw, which appears to have given to 
•each a privileged exemption from the 
Tealm of government. But remove 
that unwarranted custom, and de- 
clare that these shall stand alike 
with all other citizens, and the work 
of securing a proper solution of this 
question will be furnished. 

"As no one can now, deliberately 
set about the evil of injuring an- 
other, why should labor or capital be 
exempt from this same requirement? 
Properly applied, existing principles 
and usages of government would not 
permit injuries to be inflicted by 
either labor or capital, the one on the 
other, than it would permit it be- 
tween any other citizens. And when 
you do this you have compulsory ar- 
bitration, just as all others now ha^e 
it. 

"Now, let me prove this to you. 
If any right is infringed, or any 
wrong is committed, affecting citi- 
zens under any form of government 
on earth, they can, first settle it 
among themselves; this is arbitra- 
tion pure and simple. But if thev 
cannot thus settle it, they may not 
call in their neighbors and hold a 
'council of war,' and t^pn *«.»*** +"> 
eettlc it 'vi et armis.' No, they must 
resort to the courts for a settlement: 
and this is compulsory arbitration! 
why should these differences between 
labor and capital be exempt from a 
similar rule? Compulsorv arbitra- 
tion is. therefore, the enunciation of 
no new principle in jurisprudence, 
but only applying to labor and cap- 
ital the same governmental power 



that is placed over all other citizens. 

"Society commits a wrong upon all 
other members when it fails to re- 
quire such a rule, and government 
itself is a failure when it does not 
command it. There is nothing in 
the operation of such a law that ei- 
ther side should unduly fear. Just 
as in all other cases, the man who 
cannot substantiate his claim will 
not go to law to attempt its enforce- 
ment, but he compromises it without 
going into court about it, and so, if 
labor and capital should have a claim 
that a court of arbitration would 
not enforce, they should not be per- 
mitted to attempt its enforcement by 
a strike, boycott or lockout. 

" A 'strike' is a crime against so- 
ciety, just as much so as a mob that 
takes a victim out of the custody of 
the law and inflicts summary ven- 
geance upon him. So likewise is 
a 'lockout' to enforce a demand of 
capital against labor. Suppose a 
person having the custody of another 
attempts to starve that person into 
obedience to some demand, how long 
do you think it would be tolerated 
if found out? Not for a single mom- 
ent! and so a 'lockout' to bring work- 
men to accept less than a living wage 
is starvation on a larger scale, and 
organized society should not permit 
it. 

"Again society hangs a man that 
stops another on the public highway 
and takes his money, but it permits 
organized labor to commit a greater 
crime in the 'boycott' Under this 
'ban' not only is the individual 'held 
up' and his property sought to be 
taken from him, but even the inno- 
cent one who would furnish him 
with the necessaries of life is sim- 
ilarly injured; and yet we claim to 
live in a civilized and Christian land. 
Gp^tlemen of this convention, should 
svoh things be possible under any 
for-n of government, much less under 
on^ claiming as we do, to set a 
standard that the whole world shoum 
take for their guidance? 

"Is it not about time for us to vin- 
dicate that claim, and before at- 
tempting to Christianize heathen 
lards do more missionary work here 
at home? The South is starting on an 
industrial career which can make her 
supreme in the industrial world, but 
before she may hope to reach that 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



127 



suprtinctcy, she must take such ac- 
tion as will secure her industrial 
peace, 

"This she owes to both labor and 
capital, that each may be maintained 
in their proper sphere of usefulness 
and progress, but above all she owes 
it to the public to free it from the 
possibility of such disturbances as 
have been inflicted on other sections 
and other countries. 

"Here is a field, therefore, in which 
the Southern Industrial Convention 
may perform a service to the South 
greater by far than any yet reached. 
By the establishment of a bureau, 
such as Dr. Alderman outlined on 
yesterday, and then start a campaign 
of thorough education along all in- 
dustrial lines, including the correct 
relation between labor and capital, 
then indeed, may we hope to see the 
South what it should be. We have 
demagogues on the one side and agi- 
tators on the other, arraying class 
against class, antagonizing labor and 
capital, educating along lines that 
must bring ruin and anarchy in the 
end, and yet no agency exists to 
counteract these pernicious influ- 
ences. 

"This is primarily a work of edu- 
cation. It should never enter the do- 
main of partizan politics. It should 
command the encouragement and 
support of every good citizen, regard- 
less of party, sect or class. Rightly 
understood, there are no serious dif- 
ficulties attending its proper solution, 
and the entire American people owe 
it to themselves and to their country 
to settle it. We do not need to go to 
New Zealand for the model of any 
law, however effective their law may 
have proven there; only let us ad- 
here to our own principles of govern- 
ment, show the relationship of every 
citizen and every interest under 
them, and we need nothing more. 

"The greatest trouble that exists 
lies in the fact that labor organiza- 
tions have inculcated sentiments 
among the working- masses which 
lead them to seek redress for real or 
supposed grievances, through other 
than legal methods. They have been 
taught to regard labor organizations 
and the 'orders' of labor leaders as 
supreme. Their relation to the pub- 
lic is not properly felt, and herein 
lies the strongest obligations of the 



government to set them right 
through just laws. 

"Gentlemen, if the Southern Indus- 
trial Convention can be made such 
an agency, it will render a service to 
the South as far above any yet ren- 
dered as the earth is above the sun, 
or God himself above his creatures. 

"Of course, gentlemen, there is 
much that can be said on this sub- 
ject that should be said, but I have 
only sought to be suggestive, point- 
ing a remedy that can be made ef- 
fective in preventing disturbances 
between labor and capital, that will 
be a positive benefit to both, and 
no possible harm to either. I have 
not spoken as a partisan for either 
labor or capital. I am equally a 
friend to both, for I could not be 
other, and seek the advancement of 
this land that I love, and it is in be- 
half of this land that my appeal is 
made. This land with its fruits and 
flowers, its hills and dales, its moun- 
tains and valleys, its rivers and 
streams — the Almighty never made a 
fairer land. Here we have a soil the 
most generous, a climate the most 
healthful, with minerals rich and 
abundant; with forests and fields 
filled with treasures beyond compare 
— who is there that does not love this 
sunny Southern land and is not will- 
ing to work for its greater progress 
and higher development? Pardon 
me just a moment while I give a 
sentiment from one of the South's 
noblest sons: 

"I've stood beneath Italia's clime, 

Beloved of land and song; 
On Helvetia's hills, proud and sub- 
lime, 

Where nature's wonders throng. 
By Temple's classic, sunlit streams; 

Where gods of old did roam, 
But ne'er have found so fair a land 

As this, my native home.' 

"There are doubtless many before 
me who once thought, as I did in my 
young manhood days, that no higher 
privilege could be accorded them 
than to die in defense of this our 
Southern land, and who faced that 
death on many a bloody battle field 
but I say to you, comrades of the 
'lost cause,' that it is grander iar, 
and more glorious, to live and work 
for the upbuilding of this land now 



128 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



than it would have been to have died 
for it then; and may we old soldiers 
of the Confederacy feel that once 
again we are entering upon a contest 
that requires all our latent strength 
and manhood, but that it is one 
wherein we can never know defeat if 
we are true to the opportunities that 
lie before us. Let us acquit ourselves 
like men and prove* the truth of the 
old adage that 'Peace hath her vic- 
tories no less renowned than war' 
and that the South has won the 
grandest ever recorded in the annals 
of mankind." (Appaluse.) 

Hon. John P. Coffin, of Florida, 
then submitted the following report 
as embodying the conclusions 
reached by the committee on this 
subject. The report was unani- 
mously adopted. 

"Report of Committee on Labor and 
Capital. 

"We believe that the interests of 
labor and capital are absolutely and 
entirely inter-dependent. 

"We believe that in most cases 
there is no difference between labor 
and capital which should not and 
cannot be settled between the par- 



ties in interest without resort to ex- 
treme measures. 

"We deprecate the attempts which 
are frequently made by agitators to 
stir up strife between labor and cap- 
ital and believe that they should be 
suppressed. 

"We believe that the honest labor- 
er should be paid lioeral wages in 
cash, so that he can keep his family 
in comfort, educate his children and 
fit himself for the position he oc- 
cupies and one befitting an Ameri- 
can citizen. 

"We believe that courts of arbi- 
tration should be established both 
by State and by the National Govern- 
ments to which courts, all questions 
arising between employe and em- 
ployer must be referred, and the de- 
cisions of which courts shall be final. 

"We believe that the findings of 
these courts would be fair and im- 
partial, and would search out the 
cause of trouble and remove it, 
whether labor or capital was in fault, 
and that both sides would be willing 
to be thus adjudged, and much ill 
feeling, strife and bloodshed would 
be avoided. 

"JOHN P. COFFIN, 
Chairman." 



SHOE MANUFACTURING IN THE SOUTH. 

BY L. BROWN KEIFFER, OF KEIFFER BROS. CO., LTD., 



The following paper on shoe 
manufacture in the South was then 
read by L. Brown Keiffer of Keiffer 
Bros Co., Ltd. 

"New Orleans, La. 

"Mr. President, ladies and gentle- 
men, I have the honor to represent 
before the convention the interests 
of Shoe Manufacturing in the South 
and in behalf of our fellow manufac- 
turers of -the city of New Orleans 
I extend to you their hearty welcome 
and a cordial invitation to visit in 
your leisure moments the various 
plants, which in themselves are the 
best commentaries to the remarks I 
have the pleasure of addressing to 
you. 

"The history of the establishment 
and development of most manufactu- 
ring industries in new and compar- 
atively isolated localities bears a 
striking similarity. In the growth of 
the shoe manufacturing this fact is 



well evidenced. 

"From the exchange of data with 
gentlemen in the same line of busi- 
ness but located in other sections of 
the South we feel safe in presuming 
that our experiences are a fair exam- 
ple of what has transpired in the 
building up of this particular indus- 
try and, therefore, advance our opin- 
ion with absolute confidence for 
your consideration. 

"Shoe manufacturing by approved 
methods was started here in the ear- 
ly eighties, a matter of some 15 to 
20 years ago, and although a compar- 
atively short time when contrasted 
with some of the older commercial 
enterprises such as sugar making 
and cotton weaving, still long 
enough to admit of the development 
of such prefected methods as to 
place the Southern made articles in 
the same class with that of its North- 
ern competitor. 



Held in New Orleans, Dccemba 4-7, 1900. 



129 



"From the outset tne labor ques- 
tion was the most important to be 
faced; the employment of skilled la- 
bor from distant points was and still 
is unsatisfactory. This transporta- 
tion of labor after repeated trials 
was so disappointing that it was ne- 
cessary to adopt a system of train- 
ing by gradual advancement, so, that 
the young man who »was assistant 
to a machine operator to-day became 
in the course of a few months an op- 
erator himself. This method in a 
year or two surrounded us with 
workmen congenial to the climate 
and locality. Being generally men 
of family with an interest in the 
community in which they live, in -a 
short time they developed as a very 
desirable class of employes. 

"Satisfied with the good results the 
majority of manufactures have ad- 
hered to this means of raising 
skilled labor and it can be be posi- 
tively asserted that the workmen 
now empoyed in New Orleans are as 
competent as any in the United 
States. 

"This comparison is made only af- 
ter close observation of the ability 
of men employed elsewhere. 

"In dismissing the subject of labor 
it should be stated that the manu- 
facturer works under a slight disad- 
vantage in the absence of the strong 
competition for employment existing 
in other large shoe centers. It is 
surprising to note, however, at what 
a small additional expense a system 
of incentives for merit can be main- 
tained and with what satisfactory 
results these competitive induce- 
ments reward the manufacturer. 

"The item of locality is of no im- 
portance in the item of securing 
machinery as the constant 

solicitation and exhaustive sys- 
tem of advertising pursued by all the 
large machinery houses are so com- 
petent that new ideas are put before 
us in the South simultaneously with 
their adoption in the East. 

"In the matter providing leather 
and findings considerably more care 
and forethought is required on the 
part of the purchasing department 
than would ordinarily be demanded 
of manufacturers adjacent to large 
leather centers. By this, is meant 
that owing to the time required in 
transit and the possibility of delays 



the stock must be watched more 
closely and wants anticipated co a 
greater extent that would be necessa- 
ry if one could step next door to 
purcnase what is needed at. any time. 
"The adoption of system, however, 
reduces this inconvenience to one of 
the regular processes of manufactur- 
ing and robs it entirely of its element 
of care. 

"From extended experience it has 
been found that purchasing in the 
open market has no particular ad- 
vantage over ordering direct so far 
as prices and selection of stock are 
concerned, and for this reason our 
possibilities to secure material are as 
favorable as conditions offered else- 
where. 

"Relative to systems of manage- 
ment and methods of manufacturing 
it can be unhesitatingly stated mat 
these subjects are so entirely depen- 
dent upon the ability and individ- 
uality of the executive head that che 
matter of environment has no bear- 
ing whatsoever. 

"Through the courtesy of manufac- 
turers in almost every shoe center of 
the United States we have had favor- 
able opportunity of studying the 
question and after close observation 
conclude that each shoe factory pos- 
sesses its own distinctive features 
made prominent by the particular 
requirements of its special trade and 
the earnestness of the men man- 
aging its affairs. 

"In considering the quality of the 
Southern product we feel free to 
state that it averages better than 
goods made elsewhere for the same 
price. 

"Shoe manufacturing being a com- 
paratively young industry in ine 
South the fact follows that at its con- 
ception very strong competition had 
to be met with from established shoe 
centers. 

"This condition of affairs forced 
the new manufacturer to put an 
extra fine quality of material into 
his shoes in order to make them sup- 
erior to other competing lines. It 
was also done with the view of 
building a reputation for the manu- 
facture of thoroughly reliable foot- 
wear. 

"This virtually established at the 
outset the standard of the Southern 
made shoe — we are speaking partic- 



130 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



ularly of ' the New Orleans made 
shoe, and it is a standard from which 
the manufacturer has never receded. 

"Another cause which stimulated 
the maintainance of this high stand- 
ard of quality is the fact that the 
greater quantity of the shoes from 
Southern factories is disposed of in 
local territory tributary to the manu- 
facturing center. 

"Experience seems to justify that 
the closer the business relations the 
more exacting the patron, and, hence 
the greater care in the day's work 
and the superior quality of the ma- 
terial used. 

"That the Southern made shoes 
stand the fierce light of competition 
it needs only to be said that the out- 
put of the factories throughout the 
South has constantly increased. In 
our own particular case the increase 
of the last fiscal year was almost 45 
per cent. 

"In 1885 the bulk of the shoes man- 
ufactured were machine sewed, sell- 
ing from $1,50 to $2.25 manufactur- 
ers prices. 

"To-day the demand is almost en- 
tirely for Goodyear welts, selling 
from $2.25 to $3.00 per pair-. 

"This fact is conclusive proof that 
the Southern article is attracting the 
attention and meeting the approval 
of the best class of shoe buyers. 

"The New Orleans manufacturer 
has not devoted much time to the 
making of cheaper grades. This 
branch covers a large field and is a 
department worthy the consideration 
of our local business men. 

"Gainesville, Nashville, Atlanta 
and Memphis are successfully ex- 
ploiting these staple goods as well as 
others and their success but further 
emphasizes the fact that the South- 
land offers to business enterprises 
backed with the necessary capital 
and technical knowledge as fair an 
opportunity for success as the Nor- 
thern sister States. 
. "The territory supplied by the var- 
ious large cities of tne South is suf- 
ficiently greater to warrant the 
steady running of large plants. In 
this particular we fare better than 
our Eastern competitor; the manu- 
facturer being within easy reach of 
the consumer and in a position to 
supply him at short notice, the re- 
quirement of purchasing months 



ahead is eliminated on the part of 
the small dealer. This affords 
the retailer the opportunity to carry 
smaller stocks and the consequent 
necessity of repeated orders keeps the 
manufacturer well supplied with 
work. 

"With practically the trade of four- 
teen States at our command and a 
gradual encroachment upon trade 
which is naturally tributary to other 
large markets our running average 
is a constant, one and as quantity and 
continuity of manufacture are the es- 
sential points of an economical 
basis of manufacturing expense our 
opportunities are to operate cheaply 
unexcelled. 

"During the past five years the ex- 
port trade in shoes from the United 
States has astounded the world. In 
this field the South has been well re- 
presented. Our shoes were among 
the pioneers of American goods in 
Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the 
Baltic States and it is with consid- 
erable pride that we point to-day to 
the most representative dealers of 
the largest cities of the German Em- 
pire, the Republic of Mexico, the Cen- 
tral American States and Cuba as 
the purchasers of Southern made 
footware. What more substantial 
proof than this could be asked of the 
value of the Southern shoe? 

"When a manufacturing enterprise 
is in a position to successfully com- 
pete with the open markets of the 
world in products of its line I believe 
there can be no further doubt as to 
the permanent success of that indus- 
try. 

"With approximately a million of 
dollars invested and a daily capacity 
of about three thousand pairs of 
shoes the city of New Orleans pre- 
sents a bright example of the possi- 
bilities for the shoe manufacturing 
interest of the future. With that 
encouragement from the people to 
whom it is entitled to look for a loy- 
al support of the product which so 
justly merits it and upon which the 
most critical of several nations has 
set the stamp of approval we can see 
no reason why. shoe manufacturing 
should not be a stanch part of the 
wedge of commercial industry which 
is opening up such vast resources in 
our now prosperous South. 
(Applause.) 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7 1900. 
LETTEE EKOM COL. A. K. McCLTJRE. 



131 



There being no discussion after 
Mr. Keiffer's paper, the programme 
was proceeded with- and the subject 
of "The Press" was next taken up. 

Secretary Thompson read the fol- 
lowing letter received from Colonel 
A. K. McClure, Editor of '"Phila- 
delphia Times:" 

Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 27, 1900. 

Colonel N. F. Thompson, Equitable 
Building, New Orleans, La.: My Dear 
Friend — It is with painful reluctance 
that I advise you of my inability to 
attend the industrial convention to 
be held next month in New Orleans. 
Business engagements will call me 
to Mexico some six weeks later, and 
I cannot spare the time for both 
journeys. I must go to Mexico, and 
that makes it impossible for me to 
be in New Orleans and participate 
in an humble way in the great work 
your convention is doing. 

I will be in Birmingham the last 
week in January, if all goes well, 
and in New Orleans about the first 
of February to remain a day or so 
and then proceed to Mexico, expect- 
ing to get back for the Mardi Gras. 

I was very anxious to meet the 



Southern Industrial Convention. It is 
doing the best work that has ever 
been done in the South, and it is do- 
ing more to bring the North and 
South into mutual business relations 
than could be accomplished in any 
other way. Our city and State will 
be represented, and I am sure that 
both the North and the South will be 
greatly benefited by the free inter- 
change of sentiment and business 
feeling between the people of the 
two sections. 

The advancement of Southern de- 
velopment and prosperity has been a 
subject close to my heart for 
many years, as you doubtless 
know, and I rejoice that I have 
lived to see the North and South so- 
grandly intermingled in the great in- 
dustrial and commercial enterprises 
of a common country. It is with 
sorrow that I must declare my in- 
ability to be with you in New Or- 
leans. The first opportunity again 
presented for meeting the convention 
will bring me with you, unless pre- 
vented by circumstances entirely be- 
yond my control. Yours very truely^ 
A. K. McCLURE. 



THE PRESS OE THE SOUTH. 

BY MR. EDWIN CRAIGHEAD. 



Mr. Edwin Craighead Editor of 
"Mobile Register" then read the fol- 
lowing paper on "The Press" of the 
South and its relations to the indus- 
trial future of the South." 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: 

"In the rebuilding of the South 
after the devastating war, the Press 
of this portion of the country played 
ever the part of the good mentor. 
There has been one class of the peo- 
ple that has had the time for and 
followed the vocation of studying the 
industrial conditions and pointing 
out in what way they could best be 
taken advantage of. The Press is 
the lay ministry, preaching frequent 
and forcible sermons, and calling the 
people to realization of their oppor- 
tunities; the press is also the propa- 
ganda of the South's resources, of her 
progress and her plans for the fu- 
ture. 

"Far-seeing men, trying to make 



close observation and to generalize 
from pertinent facts, have been the 
guides to Southern Industry. I could 
name you a dozen men of their stamp 
who have been ever vigilant, ever re- 
sourceful, ever wise, pushing the 
South forward, always along safe 
lines, and seeking not their own ad- 
vantage but that of the people 
among whom they lived. Let me 
say in this connection that there is 
no one in this class who has done 
more, whose service has been follow- 
ed by more immediate results, whose 
kindly feeling has been of greater 
advantage to the industrial South 
than Colonel McClure, who has pre- 
ceded me here to-night. When we 
build a monument typifying the 
South's greatness, one of the statues 
that will ornament its base will 
be a portraiture of the big- 
brained, big-hearted man whose 
insight first discovered the 



132 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



possibilities of the South and whose 
generosity impelled him to be 
the first to call the attention of 
Northern capital to this field for en- 
terprise. He has ever believed in the 
South and we of the South shall ever 
hold him in greatful remember- 
ance. 

"It occurs to me that the work yet 
left for the Southern press to do in 
the advancement of the industrial 
South, is strictly the encourage- 
ment of such methods of education 
of the Southern people that they, the 
Southern people, may reap the full 
advantage of the industrial revolu- 
tion that is taking place in the South. 
"Those who contemplate industrial 
investments in the South meet the 
first obstacle when they enquire into 
the supply of skilled labor. We 
know of an enterprise in our city 
of Mobile that had every promise of 
success but failed because there was 
not steady labor to be had; or, if 
steady it was ignorant, and, there- 
fore, not to be profitably employed. 
In certain kinds of industry there 
is some latitude in this regard. It is 
customary when a cotton mill is es- 
tablished in a new locality for the 
management to bring a few skilled 
men and with this force as a nucleus 
train the native population to be effi- 
cient help; but we must see that this 
is not all that it should be; and, be- 
sides, there are industries that can- 
not afford to go through such a pro- 
cess in getting trained labor to work 
in them. 

"The time was when anyone who 
said the South would compete with 
the East in the manufacture of fine 
grade cotton goods would be ridicul- 
ed; yet, to-day there are mills in the 
South that produce goods of a grade 
equal to any in the world. Time was 
when it was thought that neither the 
climate of the South nor the temper- 
ament of its people would permit of 
cotton manufacturing on a large 
scale. This, too, has been proven to 
be a mistake. The South to-day 
spins and weaves nearly a fifth part 
of the product of its cotton fields, 
and hundreds of new mills are being 
constructed anually. In other indus- 
tries the same astonishing progress 
is exhibited. In lumber, in iron and 
steel making, in agriculture gener- 
ally there is shown a very commend- 



able enterprise. The South is fully 
awake to her possibilities. The ser- 
vice of the. press has been well per- 
formed. 

Labor, however, is yet to be train- 
ed as it should be. We want it said 
in the near future that we build our 
own mills and manage them with 
Southern skilled labor. This is not 
meant as sectionalism, but mere- 
ly that we have the population 
and we want to see them employed, 
not as common laborers only but as 
skilled, occupying positions of high- 
est responsibility. In this way alone 
will our people reap the full benefit 
of the South's growth. 

"To this end, there should be, we 
think, some change in the methods 
of education. We teach all the boys 
and girls alike; they learn the three 
essentials, and something of history, 
geography and physics. In the high 
schools chemistry, Latin and advan- 
ced mathematics are addeu. ill 
these studies are useful, as all forms 
of knowledge are useful, but may we 
not ask whether it would not be bet- 
ter for the South if her schools were 
to devote some part of their attention 
to manual training, to instruction 
in the art of using the hands. Our 
attention is now devoted to the train- 
ing of the mind. We crowd the 
mind with facts; we cultivate the 
memory to an extraordinary degree, 
but of life's real work, of the indus- 
trial life of the South, what? The 
graduate has to start at the bottom 
and learn how to make a living; and, 
as he is without teachers, he makes 
blunders, gets discouraged, and lap- 
ses into, shiftlessness and idleness 
perhaps into crime. 

"Shall we not then preach the need 
of industrial schools in the South, or 
industrial departments in our 
schools? Is that not our chief duty 
to-day and in the performance of it 
will not the press be true to its re- 
lation to the industrial future of the 
South? If effective, the preaching 
would be of the greatest benefit to 
the young, but not only so, but would 
enrich the South, as it would enable 
the worker to earn a larger wage 
and would leave with the industrial 
class a large proportion of the money 
derived from the processes of manu- 
facturing. (Applause.) 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 
THE PRESS OF THE SOUTH. 

BY MARCELLUS E. FOSTER. 



135 



President Hargrove: 

"I now have the pleasure in intro- 
ducing to you the youngest Editor in 
the South. Mr. Marcellus E. Foster 
of the 'Houston Daily Post.' " 

Mr. Marcellus E. Foster, Manag- 
ing Editor "Houston Daily Post" 
then read the following paper on the 
same subject, viz., "The Press of the 
South." 

"Ladies and Gentlemen .- 

"The press of the South has been 
one of the greatest factors in bring- 
ing about the spirit of industrial en- 
thusiasm that is now being felt in 
nearly every Southern State. 
"The industrial awakening has 
hardly begun, however, consequent- 
ly there is much yet to be done. The 
press can do more, perhaps, than any 
other agency to make known the 
great resources of the South, and to 
educate the people as to the necessity 
of this line of development. 

"What is the duty of Southern 
newspapers in this connection is 
known to every editor in this section, 
and I am glad to say that nearly all 
are doing what is expected of them. 
The press is ever ready to welcome 
new enterprises, and to advocate 
laws and measures that will encour- 
age the location of such industries. 

"It is true that there are some pa- 
pers that seem to care more for their 
pet political ideas than for the com- 
mercial welfare of the country, but as 
a rule you will find the press of the 
South thoroughly alive to the busi- 
ness needs of this great land of 
ours. 

"To bring about the industrial 
transformation that is so badly need- 
ed in the South there will be no need 
to abandon the social and political 
principles that have been a part of 
the South for many years past. No 
man need be advised to abandon po- 
litics or to align himself with anoth- 
er party in order to secure attention 
from Northern and Eastern investors. 
There are opportunities in every 
Southern State for profitable invest- 
ment and the opportunities must be 
made known to the world. 

"There are thousands and thous- 



ands of people in this country who 
do not know the possibilities of 
money-making in the South, or who 
if they do know them imagine that 
there are laws in the Southern States 
that make such investment hazard- 
ous or attended with unusual risk. 
One great help that the press can 
give in the work of industrial devel- 
opment, therefore, is in demonstra- 
ting that there are no laws in the 
South antagonistic to legitimate in- 
vestments, and that a man who 
wants to build a factory here is just 
as sure of protection as the one who 
invests his money in any Northern 
or Eastern State. Texas, I think, was 
injured more during the last ten 
years by the cry that our laws were 
calculated to drive out capital than it 
could have been hurc commercially 
by a yellow fever epidemic. The 
press of our State has a duty to per- 
form in correcting this impression, 
and in making known the fact that 
Texas offers every inducement to 
honest capital to invest within its 
borders. We have been forced in 
past years to adopt laws to protect 
our citizens, and some of these laws 
have been severely attacked by peo- 
ple who did not understand them, or 
who purposely misrepresented their 
intent and scope, but taken as 
a wnole the laws of Texas are not 
as stringent nor as paternalistic as 
those of Massachusetts, New York or 
Connecticut. 

"It is true there are some demago- 
gues in the South, but there are also 
unprincipled and demagogic politi- 
cians in the North and East, and 
there is no reason why one section 
should be affected by these any more 
than the other. The fact that Chi- 
cago and New York have their an- 
archists and mobs does not deter in- 
vestments from those cities, and be- 
cause the South occasionally becomes 
hysterical over some needed reform 
in the National Government is no 
reason for capital to avoid this sec- 
tion. 

"In my opinion the quickest and 
easiest way for the South to work 
out its industrial salvation is to ed- 



134 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



ucate its own people to the necessity 
of putting money into manufactur- 
ing enterprises. We are too prone to 
call upon outside investors. We 
should, of course, offer the outside 
investor every inducement to locate 
an enterprise in the South and see 
that his investment is given full 
protection and encouragement, but 
•at the same time we should not ne- 
glect to impress upon home capital 
the great benefits to be derived from 
judicious investments along this line. 
"There is every reason why the 
South should be a land of manu- 
facturing as well as of agriculture, 
■and it is the duty of the press to 
demonstrate this, not only to our 
Northern and Eastern friends, but 
to our own people. The utilization 
of our industrial opportunities is, as 
we all know, as yet very much in its 
infancy; it is only very lately indeed 
that their capabilities have been dis- 
covered and their worth realized. A 
few Southern States, like the Caro- 
linas, have been forced into cotton 
manufacturing, but taken as a whole, 
•our opportunities have been utilized 
only in a meager way. The appre- 
ciation of their value has but just 
begun to dawn upon us, and until we 
"fully show our own faith and reliance 
we can not expect full recognition 
from other quarters. 

"One reason why our Southern peo- 
ple have not gone into manufacturing 
more extensively is because there 
nave been other methods of money 
making that seemed attended with 
less risk. Our towns and cities have 
grown and developed mainly along 
merchandizing lines. Too many of 
our cities are still merely places for 
exchanging and shipping of raw pro- 
ducts. High interest has also been 
a great drawback to manufacturing 
development, though everything 
now indicates that this evil can not 
be held against us much longer. 

"The day for the note shaver, the 
coupon clipper and the interest 
maker will soon be at an end, and 
as the end draws near money will 
seek investment in manufacturing 
enterprises. 

"The interest rate has been 
knocked to smithereens throughout 
the North and East, and that safe 
and easy method of making an in- 
come is now at an end nearly every- 



where. It is the duty of the press to 
make the fact prominent and to 
show that where the loaning of 
money no longer pays men have been 
forced into productive investments. 
In a few years more the moneyed 
men in all parts of the South will 
find that to create wealth and to de- 
velope they must help to set in mo- 
tion the wheels of progress. They will 
discover that money can not make 
money — that the day for large in- 
comes merely by interest making is 
over. 

"High interest is a sure indication 
of a new and undeveloped country, 
as population increases, as cities are 
developed and as interests grow and 
expand, there is a keen competition 
in money and the interest rate falls. 
"To-day New York and Boston 
banks are glad to dispose of their 
money at 3 and 4 per cent, provided 
the security is safe. This is the high- 
est possible tribute to the growth 
and development of that section of 
the country. It shows that invest- 
ment in manufacturing industries 
has been found more profitable than 
any other method of money making; 
that the accumulation of wealth in 
the North and East has forced men 
into these enterprises that are needed 
to employ labor. 

"In many Southern States the in- 
terest rate is gradually falling, but it 
is still so high as to be a drawback 
to the South. It causes many men to 
depend- wholly upon this method of 
money making. As long as they are 
certain of 8 per cent, they are con- 
tent to sit idly by, and to leave to 
the more venturesome spirits the 
chance of making from 10 to 15 per 
cent on manufacturing investments. 
"But the demand for money at this 
high rate is not keeping up with the 
supply. The banks of several large 
Southern cities are to-day filled with 
money that is drawing no interest 
whatever — that cannot be loaned 
upon what the banks consider safe 
collateral at this high rate of inter- 
est. 

"What will be the result of this? 
There will be much lower interest 
rate within the next few years, and 
furthermore, there will be a rush to 
invest money in productive enter- 
prises. 

"Another point to which I wish to 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-^ 1900. 



135 



call your attention is that it has been 
too long considered the duty of the 
press to plead for crop diversifica- 
tion, and to ascribe all our troubles 
to the lack of this system. 

"Crop diversification has been the 
cry in the South for the last twenty 
or thirty years. It has served as a 
constant theme for newspapers and 
for the public generally. The farmer 
has had it continually dinned into 
his ears, and spread before his eyes, 
and shoved under his nose and 
crammed into his brain. 

"The necessity of a diversity of 
crops has been told him by every 
country newspaper and even the city 
dailies have harped upon the subject 
for months at a time. Editorial 
writers have their 'crop diversifica- 
tion' articles on hand at all times, 
and whenever ideas for other sub- 
jects are used up they fall back upon 
the diversity topic, and begin to tell 
the farmers how to escape from the 
'thraldom of a crop which holds its 
votaries as serfs,' etc. 

"We all pity the farmer and talk 
of the senseless way in which he 
sticks to old crops, and wonder why 
he does not follow the advice to 
diversify that is so freely and con- 
stantly given. It is indeed pitiable 
to see men content to eke out a bare 
existence as cotton raisers, but do 
you know that in many instances the 
farmer is acting wisely when he 
sticks to cotton, even at 5 cents in 
preference to experimenting with 
other crops. 

"How can you conscientiously ad- 
vise a farmer to stop raising cotton 
and to give his attention to other 
crops before you give him a market 
for other agricultural products. 

"The newspapers are constantly 
telling the farmers of the beauties of 
truck gardening in the South. Did 
you know that the amount of vegeta- 
bles thrown away for want of a mar- 
ket in many Southern towns each 
summer would make thousand upon 
thousands of cases of canned goods. 

"One little county in Maryland has 

canning factories. How many 

are there in our Southern States? 

"Nearly every variety of fruit can 
be grown in the South, and well 
managed orchards have netted ex- 
cellent financial results in this State. 
But we buy enough canned fruits 



from the North and East every win- 
ter to keep hundreds of factories 
busy. How can you expect more 
farmers to quit cotton and raise fruit 
until cities like Houston and New 
Orleans encourage them with factor- 
ies for canning these products? 

"Every factory placed in a city 
not only means a market in many in- 
stances for a certain line of pro- 
duce to be manufactured, but it 
means that any where from 500 to 
2,000 people have been added to the 
city's population, and this in itself 
creates a greater demand for every- 
thing raised by the farmer. 

"Give the farmers a market for a 
diversity of crops and they can be 
relied upon to quit all cotton and to 
diversify. 

"As long as the cities pander to' 
this trade and bow down before the 
cotton juggernaut you can not hope 
for anything else from the farmers. 

"Crop diversification is needed in 
the South, but before that can be 
made clear to the farming element 
there must be an industrial awaken- 
ing in our villages, towns and 
our cities. Let the diversity cry con- 
tinue, but let the city man of af- 
fairs take it to heart for a while. 

"And when the cities diversify and 
expand their manufacturing you will 
find that there is no longer any need 
for the South to drop cotton, but on 
the contrary that we can produce the 
largest cotton crops ever recorded in 
the country's history and still get 
good prices for the staple. South 
Carolina is the largest manufacturer 
of cotton goods in the South, and 
that has been brought about without 
curtailing its cotton crop or affecting 
injuriously its other agricultural in- 
terests. 

"I would say, therefore, to the 
press of the South: Don't forever 
and continually talk crop diversifi- 
cation to the farmer. He is diversi- 
fying his crops just as fast as he 
finds it profitable to do so. 

"Don't imagine that the Southern 
farmer is ignorant and shiftless. He 
is progressing in his particular line 
of work just as fast as the banker or 
the capitalist. It is true that there 
are some farmers who haven't the 
sense to see why they should raise 
their own food crops, but then there 
are some bankers who don't realize 



136 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



that a big surplus of money isn't a 
fine advertisement for a bank. 

"There are a few farmers in the 
South who buy all they eat instead 
of raising the bulk of it. There are 
likewise bankers and other moneyed 
men in the South who would rather 
see their money idle in the vaults 
than to risk it on manufacturing en- 
terprises. These extremes are found 
in every class of life, and these ex- 
tremists should not be used to judge 
the whole. 

"In conclusion, I want to say that 
while I consider it the duty of the 
press of the South to constantly ad- 
vocate industrial expansion, and to 
aid in every way to make the world 
see the great manufacturing possi- 
bilities of this section, I trust the 
day will never come when the com- 
mercial spirit alone will actuate our 
great citizenship. Let us do all in 
our power to have our measureless 
resources utilized and developed, but 
do not change us into what Ruskin 
calls the 'money-making mob.' Let 
us preserve our good name, our his- 
toric honor and our traditions. Let 
the world know the wealth of the 
South's mineral resources, its vast 



fields of coal, its thousand streams 
if running water, its easy accessibil- 
ity to seaports on the South and 
East, its limitless forests of woods 
of every kind, for use in every de- 
scription of manufacture, its won- 
derful productive capabilities — let the 
world know all this, and yet when 
we achieve the prosperity and great- 
ness that should be ours from all 
these natural advantages, let us 
not become merely a mob of money- 
loving, money-making people. Let 
us not 'concentrate our souls on 
pence,' despising literature, despis- 
ing science, despising art, despising 
nature, despising compassion. The 
South is generous and unselfish at 
heart, its citizenship is one of which 
we are all now proud. Let us re- 
member this, and never forget in our 
race for commercial supremacy, 
those old traditions of chivalry, of 
love for the beautiful and good, ad- 
miration for true manhood, for self- 
sacrificial bravery, devotion to truth 
and honor and to higher ideals, 
which have made the Southern char- 
acter proverbially charming, strong 
and noble. (Applause.) 



THE PRESS OE THE SOUTH. 



BY LOUIS J. BROOKS. 



Mr. Louis J. Brooks, of Jackson, 
Tenn., then read the following paper 
on "The Press of the South, and its 
Relation to the Industrial Future of 
the South." 

"Mr. President and Gentlemen of 
the Southern Industrial Convention: 

"As the invention of printing 
marked the dawn of modern civiliza- 
tion, so an enterprising press has 
since been the sleepless trumpeter 
and exploiter of human progress and 
achievement. 'Edmund Burke said 
there were three estates in parlia- 
ment but in the reporters' gallery 
yonder there sat a fourth estate, 
more important far than they all.' 
In a similar vein, Thackeray pays 
this splendid tribute: 'Look at the 
press; there she is — the great engine 
— she never sleeps, she has her am- 
bassadors in every quarter of the 
world; her couriers on every road. 
Her officers march along with armies 



and her envoys walk into states- 
mens' cabinets.' 

"A free and independent press is 
the corner-stone of civil and relig- 
ious liberty; it has ever been the 
glory of the Anglo-Saxon, and, it is 
no matter of surprise, that this car- 
dinal principle was engrafted in the 
constitution of our great Republic. 
"While the press of the entire coun- 
try has been notably alert and enter- 
prising in developing the material 
and industrial wealth of the nation, 
the press of the South has been no 
laggard in stimulating and promot- 
ing the best interests of its section. 
Its newspapers keenly felt the de- 
vastating hand of war, they became 
acquainted with poverty in its var- 
ious forms, but with all, they re- 
tained a virility and recuperative 
power born of abiding faith and un- 
faltering courage. The press of the 
South has not been fortified by pop- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 



137 



ulous cities and a wealthy clientage, 
but it has always enjoyed in a 
marked degree the confidence and 
esteem of its people. The esprit de 
corps of Southern journalism has in- 
sured high standards of honor and 
integrity and, be it said to its credit, 
the so-called yellow journal has 
found but little favor among our 
people. The list of oien who have 
distinguished themselves in the 
Southern newspaper field and who 
have shed imperishable lustre upon 
their profession is a long and bril- 
liant one, and they are tne acknow- 
ledged peers of their professional 
brethren in any other section of the 
American Union. 

"Perhaps the most noteworthy 
work of the Southern press has been 
exhibited by practically proving, 
that 'the pen is mightier than the 
sword,' and in exemplifying the 
truth that 'peace hath her victories 
no less renowned than war.' The 
spirit and ardor with which the 
Southern editor has addressed him- 
self to the task of retrieving the 
broken fortunes of his countrymen 
and rehabilitating his impoverished 
section was admirable to behold. 
His work has left its impress upon 
the material development of his 
Southland and its influence upon the 
future welfare of his people will be 
seen and felt for years to come. 

"Standing as we are upon the 
threshold of a new century, prob- 
lems of vast moment confront us, 
and it is to an intelligent solution 
of these grave questions, that the 
press and people of the South must 
address themselves. Witness, if you 
please, the wonderful recuperative 
energies of the South, and then, be- 
hold the industrial revolution that is 
upon us and that marks an epoch 
in our history! The new revolution 
in trade, manufacturing and com- 
merce has assumed such magnitude 
that it only requires an abiding 
faith in ourselves to achieve our in- 
dustrial independence. The New 
England cotton mill owner and the 
Pennsylvania iron king have found 
stalwart but generous competitors 
among their Southern neighbors. 
A new Aladdin, inspired by a plucky 
and public spirited press, has rubbed 
his wonderful lamp and young man- 
ufacturing cities like Birmingham, 



Sheffield, Anniston, Bessemer, Har- 
riman and Middlesborough have 
sprung into existence. Parodoxical as. 
it may seem, the scenes of the most 
hotly contested battlefields of our 
civil war are to-day populous and 
flourishing manufacturing cities. 
The battle smoke of the early sixties, 
as if by some strange necromancy, 
has been metamorphosed into liie 
smoke of busy factories, while tne 
clash of arms and roar of cannon 
find their echoes in 'the whirr of the 
spindle, the buzz of the saw, the roar 
of the furnace and the throb of the 
locomotive.' Charlotte, Columbia, 
Atlanta and Chattanooga, have in- 
deed arisen from the ashes of war 
and have been transformed into- 
swarming hives of human industry. 
"In order to make a people great 
and prosperous, Lord Bacon said, 
'yon must have fertile soil, busy 
workshops and easy conveyance for 
men and goods from place to place.' 
Measured by this standard, in the 
products of the field, no country on 
the globe can compare with the 
South in the variety and abundance 
of its argricultural products. Ac- 
cording to published statemeuts, it 
is estimated that the cotton crop 
alone for the present year will jield 
a revenue of $400,000,000. Our cotton 
and tobacco exports are the keys 
that unlock millions of foreign gold 
to this country and that so firmly 
maintain the balance of trade in 
our favor. As to the richness of our 
Southern iron fields, no less author- 
ity than Mr. Edward Atkinson said: 
'Standing on the top of the highest 
peak of the great Smoky mountains 
he would find in a radius of 75 miles 
the future iron producing region of 
the United States.' In proof of the 
foregoing statement, it is said the 
South is already producing 2,500,007 
tons of pig iron a year. As in cot- 
ton and iron, so the South leads the 
United States or any other civilized 
country, in its area of timbered land, 
possessing as it does, over one-half 
the forest wealth of this country. 
With such an amazing exhibit of 
raw material, what may we not ex- 
pect when the dormant mechanical 
energies and inventive genius of the 
South reach their normal develop- 
ment. With such enormous re- 
sources of forest, field and mine, the 



:38 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



trartscendant question of the times 
with the press and people is 'where 
are the Southern mechanics to de- 
velop this untold wealth?' Shall we 
continue to import skilled mechanics 
or shall we train our own young men, 
employing them in our workshops 
and thus permit them to enjoy the 
rich heritage that attends successful 
manufacturing. 

"We have lawyers, doctors, mer- 
chants and politicians, and to spare, 
but there is abundant room for 
home-grown mechanics. We need 
great captains of industry, 'native 
and to the manor born,' with ability 
to organize and manage the coming 
army of artizans, who are to con- 
vert our cotton into cloth, our iron 
ore into hardware, our wool into 
clothing, and our forests into fur- 
niture and wooden ware. We need 
master spirits like Carnagie, Frick 
and Pullman to blaze out the road 
to success in manufacturing, we need 
ship builders, like the Cramps to 
construct our merchant marine; 
civil engineers like Capt. Eads to 
span our rivers and build our jet- 
ties and scientific inventors like Ed- 
ison, Tesla, Bell, McCormick, Oliver 
and Westinghouse to tame the subtle 
lightning and make easy and less 
hazardous the lot of the husbandman 
and the knight of the rail. 

"It is indeed remarkable that the 
South is just now awakening to her 
splendid opportunities and possi- 
bilities. We have for years paid tri- 
bute to the Northern and Eastern 
manufacturers. They own the life 
and fire insurance companies, the 
railroads, cable and steamship lines, 
the trust companies and the publish- 
ing houses. They make our boots 
and shoes, hats and caps, clothing, 
millinery, hardware, furniture and 
they manufacture at a fine profit, 
the very cotton and tobacco grown 
in your fields. Visit your stores, if 
you please, and see how many arti- 
cles are manufactured in this sec- 
tion. Even much of our meat, lard, 
hay, flour, and canned goods bear the 
impress of a Northern, Eastern or 
Western label. Is it any wonder 
then, that for all these years we have 
been self-appointed hewers of wood 
and drawers of water? We are com- 
mercial toll-payers; we sow but 
others reap. And yet for this ano- 



malous condition of affairs, no blame 
is attached to our friends up the 
country. Our slavery is of our own 
making, as our industrial independ- 
ence must be wrought out by our 
own exertions. We are at last cut- 
ting our wisdom teeth, and, thanks 
to the industrial campaigns of the 
Southern press, as the years roll by, 
we will live and learn. 

"I appeal to the young men and 
the rising generation, to throw off 
this industrial bondage. The time, 
has arrived in the South when we 
must not only raise the raw material 
but we must manufacture our own 
wares and merchandise. We pro- 
duce nearly two-thirds of the world's 
cotton supply and yet New England 
and Great Britain employ ana sus- 
tain five millions of people in the 
manufacture of Southern cotton. 
Could we manufacture our entire 
product, it would require an invest- 
ment of $1,200,000,000 and would 
mean the employment of at least five 
million Southern operatives. As lead- 
ers of Southern thought, it is the duty 
of her press to launch business cam- 
paigns for every character of man- 
ufacturing, but particularly in be- 
half of that staple that has been our 
main stay for one hundred years. 
No nation or State can afford to de- 
pend solely upon the development of 
its agriculture, for above and be- 
yond this is that greater wealth cre- 
ated by the factory. 

"Productive wealth in this coun- 
try arises mainly from agriculture 
and manufacturing, and the rela- 
tive ratio of the two is only 28 per 
cent for agriculture to 52 per cent 
for manufacturing, making it clear, 
to the South that she must manufac- 
ture her raw material if she would 
win abiding prosperity. It has been 
said that capital attracts capital; 
population attracts population, and 
industries attract industries. We 
must not only have great cotton mill 
cities in the South like Manchester 
and Pall River but we must have 
our iron cities like Pittsburg with 
its diversified industries which con- 
sume iron and steel. Muscular 
power has become a secondary con- 
sideration since it has been sup- 
planted by iron and coal. In the 
impressive language of Hon. W. D. 
Kelly, 'Iron is the muscle of modern 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



139 



civilization and coal-ignited coal is 
the nervous force that animates it.' 

"Russia, with its fertile soil, never, 
attained international prominence 
until Peter the Great, that bold en- 
terprising genius ascended the throne 
and apprenticed the flower of the 
Russian nobility to the various me- 
chanical arts. This wise monarch 
thought it no lowering of his kingly 
dignity to learn the trade of ship- 
building. He built factories, canals 
and ships; he mastered the material 
resources of his country and raised 
it to a high and permanent grade in 
the scale of nations. The South has 
a greater industrial reformer than 
Peter the Great, in her enterprising 
press, to arouse the people to action; 
and to accelerate the revolution that 
is upon us. 

"Great Britain, peerless as a mari- 
time power, and upon whose domin- 
ions the sun never sets, finds its 
chief glory in its mammoth manu- 
facturing centers, its Sheffields, Man- 
chester and Birminghams that are 
finding worthy namesakes in our 
beautiful Southland. 

"Germany boasts of her learning, 
her statecraft and her military re- 
nown, but the mightiest factor that 
sustains and fosters her people is 
the busy workships and factories at 
Berlin, Breslau, Dresden and Brem- 
en. 

"France, the brilliant leader in the 
arts and sciences, the fame of 
whose scholars and merchants is 
world-wide, is rich to overflowing 
by reason of the skill and enterprise 
of her looms and forges at Lille and 
Lyons. The secret of New England's 
matchless prosperity and the afflu- 
ence attained by New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio and other Northern 
States — now the bankers of the na- 
tion — is found in their energetic 
factories. Such examples are enough 
to fire and inspire the Southern youth 
to new conquests in industrial pur- 
suits. 

"In order that this industrial 
epoch may be stimulated and 
quickened, it would be well for the 
press to advocate the establishment 
of polytechnical schools throughout 
the South, so that our young people 
may be taught the practical value 
and importance of our immense nat- 



ural resources. Let us follow in the 
wake of such progressive institutions 
as Columbia College, Cornell, Johns 
Hopkins, and Washington Universi- 
ties. We need more State training 
schools and we need technical train- 
ing in the public schools of the 
South. When we educate our own 
mechanics and trades people, we 
shall no longer be driven to the ne- 
cessity of sending North for an elec- 
trician to light our towns, nor a 
manager to take charge of our mul- 
tiplying manufacturing plants. 
When we have the native mechanical 
skill and ability, we can put an end 
to the beguiling bonus now de- 
manded by Northern factory owners 
to move in this direction. 

"As editors, no duty is paramount 
to encouraging and fostering home 
•industries and securing and building 
home factories and local markets. 
The town, county and State are our 
special clients and to their industrial 
welfare we should be ever vigilant 
and loyal. Instead of wasting a sup- 
erabundance of energy upon politics 
and politicians let us devote more 
time and attention to the organiza- 
tion of manufacturers' aid associaT 
tions, industrial leagues, boards of 
trade and chambers of commerce. 
Let the Southern press do its most 
effective campaigning in breeding 
shops and factories, in road and rail- 
road building, in promoting sanita- 
tion, in improving Southern rivers 
and harbors, in encouraging steam- 
ship lines, in building the Nicaragua,, 
canal, in the diversification of agri- 
culture and manufacturing and in 
synthetizing the intellectual, indus- 
trial and commerical lue of t '" 
South, and the goal of our ambition 
will then be speedily attained. When 
such ends can be accomplished, 
through the united efforts of the 
press and people, a Southern city 
will become a great metropolis and 
clearing house for mammoth opera- 
tions in Southern financiering, man- 
ufacturing, agriculture and commerce 
and money will then become as 
abundant and can be obtained at as 
low rates of interest as prevail in 
the North or East. God speed the 
press of the South in its noble mis- 
sion of upbuilding its section and 
the gentlemen who have lead in this 
great industrial movement should be 



140 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention^ 



honored as the very high priests of 
industrial progress and expansion. 

"As we stand here to-day and be- 
hold the approaching glories of the 
twentieth century, a vision of sur- 
passing beauty unfolds to view. I 
behold a thousand busy factories 
with their saws and looms and forges 
converting native products into mer- 
chandise for export; I see Southern 
ships made by Southern mechanics 
from Southern forests and mines, as 
they enter and depart from Southern 
ports, and as they plow the waters 
of the Gulf of Mexico or fleck the 
bosom of the Atlantic or Pacific. 
Through the Nicaragua canal I wit- 
ness the passage of magnificent 
steamers laden with Southern manu- 
factures en route to Western ports in 
Mexico, Central and South America, 
and thence to the Philippine, China, 
Japan, India and the islands of the 
sea. I see these ocean greyhounds 
returning to us and discharging their 
cargoes of fruit from the tropics, 
drugs and spices from the Latin Am- 
ericas, and teas from the Orient. 

"Electric railways traverse the 
country, rivers and canals are lined 
with electric launches, electric car- 
riages and velocipedes swarm on the 
macadam highways, while the tele- 
graph, telephone and phonograph 
will be a part of the equipment of 
the average rural home. 

In the eloquent language of the 
gifted and lamented Henry Grady: 
'I see a South, the home of fifty mil- 
lions of people who rise up every 
day to call from biessed cities vast 
hives of industry ana thrift, her 



country-sides the treasures from 
which their resources are drawn; her 
streams vocal with whirling spindles, 
her valleys tranquil in the white and 
gold of the harvest; ner mountains 
showering down the music of bells, 
as her slow moving flocks and herds 
go forth from their folds; her rulers 
honest and her people loving, and 
her homes happy and their hearth- 
stones bright and their waters still 
and their pastures green, and her 
conscience clear, her wealth diffused 
and her poorhouses empty; her 
churches earnest and all creeds lost 
in the gospel.' " (Applause.) 

Secretary Thompson read the re- 
port of the Committee on the "Press 
of the South," which was as follows: 

Report of the Committee on the 
Press of the South, and its Re- 
lations to the Industrial Future 
of the South. 
Resolved, that we heartily endorse 
the resolutions adopted by this con- 
vention to-day on the subject of in- 
dustrial schools, and pledge our sup- 
port to that measure; will use our 
influence to have the people and the 
legislators of nnr respective States 
stimulated to the importance and 
necessity of industrial education for 
the industrial development of the 
industrial South. 

It was moved and seconded that 
the report be adopted and the motion 
was carried unanimously. 

It being now 10:30 P. M., the con- 
vention adjourned until 10 A. M., 
Thursday morning. 



THURSDAY MORNING SESSION. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEES. 



President Hargrove: The third 
day's session of this convention will 
be opened with an invocation by 
Rabbi I. L. Leucht, of Touro Syna- 
gogue. 

Rabbit I. L. Leucht offered up the 
following prayer: 

"Almighty and most merciful God, 
unto Thee we lift up our hearts; 
from Thee cometh the light that il- 
lumines the world and all that it 
contains. Send Thy light and Thy 
truth that they may guide this as- 



sembly for the good of our common- 
wealth and for the glory of Thy grac- 
ious name. 

"Gracious God, at the dawn of cre- 
ation Thou didst dignify labor and 
decree that sweet rest could only be 
enjoyed as a fruit of industry and 
didst place two cherubs with flaming 
swords at the gates or the paradise of 
idleness so that man should never 
return there, but earn his bread by 
the sweat of his brow. 

"Let us remember that he who 



Held in Neiv Orleans, D member 4-7, 1900. 



141 



lightens the burden of mankind but 
for one single moment is a high 
priest in the temple of humanity. 
Gracious Father, many men have 
come here with such ideas in their 
heart and have left hearth and home 
to support those high principles 
which they have at heart; be with 
their families and their homes dur- 
ing their absence. 

"Gracious Father, many men have 
come here of many creeds actuated 
by one grand impulse. Oh, Father, 
let them take Thy spiritual blessing 
with them through the highway of 
life and let each recognize his fel- 
lowman as his brother, and let all 
redound to Thy glory, everlasting 
Jehovah." 

President Hargrove: There are 
some short reports of various com- 
mittees to be read, but it was under- 
stood last night that the first busi- 
ness to be taken up this morning 
would be the report of the Commit- 
tee on Permanent Organization. 

Ex-Mayor Noonan, of St. Louis: I 
wish to make a motion. I move now 
that this convention take up the or- 
der of business as outlined last even- 
ing, and that we suspend the regular 
order of business or any order of 
business, and take up first the report 
of the Committee on Permanent Or- 
ganization. 

President Hargrove: The motion 
is not in order. The question is as 
to whether the convention shall de- 
cide to hear the short reports re- 
ferred to. 

The motion to hear the short re- 
ports was carried. 

President Hargrove: The conven- 
tion has decided that these short re- 
ports by various committees be now 
taken up. 

Mr. J. B. Killebrew, Chairman of 
the Committee on Immigration, read 
the following report: 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON IM- 
MIGRATION. 

To the Industrial Convention: 

Your Committee on Immigration, 
after a full conference and a careful 
consideration of all the questions 
presented, and fully recognizing the 
fact that intelligent immigration is 



one of the most powerful factors in 
industrial development and growth, 
beg leave to submit the following 
resolutions: 

1st. Resolved, that this convention 
recommends that the several States 
of the South through their respec- 
tive legislatures, make early and am- 
ple provision for the work of immi- 
gration, and it further recommends 
that facts and statistics setting forth 
the resources and capabilities of each 
State be truthfully and attractively 
prepared by competent persons and 
freely distributed throughout the 
North, and especially through the 
Northwestern and Central Northern 
states. 

2nd. Resolved, that the commis- 
sioners of immigration of each State 
be requested to co-operate with the 
railroads in this great work; that the 
executives of each State be requested 
to urge in their messages the im- 
portance of liberal appropriations 
for immigration purposes, and that 
greater activity be exercised in the 
various departments of immigration. 
3rd. Resolved, that this industrial 
convention cheerfully recognizes and 
heartily applauds the work of immi- 
gration which is now carried on 
under the intelligent direction of 
many of the leading railroads of tne 
South, and it fully endorses the fact 
that this work by the railroads has 
contributed greatly to the upbuilding 
of the South and the rapid develop- 
ment of its many resources by the 
judicious dissemination of facts, 
thus attracting capital and skilled 
labor to its midst, and the conven- 
tion further recognizes with gratifi- 
cation a growing sentiment on the 
part of several of those railroads to 
further strengthen and enlarge this 
most useful branch of their service 
to the people of the South. 

J. B. KILLEBREW, Chairman, 
FRANK HILL, 
EDWIN BROBSTON, 
M. V. RICHARDS, 
GEO. C. POWERS, 
H. CURTIS, 
J. G. LEE, 
A. V. EASTMAN, 
W. L. GLESSNER. 

Mr. Wilson (of Texas) asked that 
the Committee on Resolutions be re- 
quested to report at 2 P. M. Sec- 



142 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



onded and carried. The Chairman 
of the Committee on Resolutions 
stated he had been trying for three 
days to get the Committee together, 
and he requested that the Comnvttee 
meet upstairs in the committee- 
room and get ready to prepare its 
report. 

President Hargrove: Before tak- 
ing up this question of permanent 
organization, 1 desire to say as Pres- 
ident of this Association that I have 
absolutely no preference nor do I 
wish to use any influence in re- 
gard T o the matter which will now 
be discussed. My whole desire is that 
everything may be done with a view 
to malting this Association a com- 
plete success. (Applause.) 

Mr. Edwin Brobston, Chairman of 
the Committee on Permanent Organ- 
ization, handed in his report, which 
was amended and adopted as follows: 

(The following is the charter as 
passed on the Convention and as 
on file, completed.) 

No 

March , 1901. 

ACT OF INCORPORATION OF THE 
SOUTHERN INDUSTRIAL 
ASSOCIATION. 
State of Louisiana, 
Parish of Orleans, 
City of New Orleans. 

Be it known, that on this . . day of 
March, in the year one thousand nine 
hundred and one, before me, William 
Renaudin, a notary public in and for 
the Parish of Orleans, State of Louis- 
iana, duly commissioned and quali- 
fied, and in presence of the witnesses 
hereinafter named and undersigned, 
personally came and appeared, tne 
persons whose names are hereunto 
subscribed, and severally declared 
that availing themselves of the pro- 
visions of the laws of the State of 
Louisiana, relative to the organiza- 
tion of corporations, they do by these 
presents, form and constitute them- 
selves and those who may hereafter 
associate themselves with them, into 
a corporate body, for the objects and 
purposes hereinafter set forth and 
expressed, which they hereby adopt 
as their charter, to-wit: 
ARTICLE I. 
Name. 

The name and title of the corpora- 
tion hereby formed is declared to be 



the "Southern Industrial Associa- 
tion." Its domicile shall be in the 
City of New Orleans, State of Louisi- 
ana, and it shall enjoy succession for 
a period of ninety-nine (99) years 
from and after the date hereof. 

All legal process shall be served 
upon the President, and in the event 
of his absence or inability to act from 
any cause, the same shall be served 
upon the Secretary. 

■ ARTICLE II. 
Objects and Purposes. 

The objects and purposes of this 
corporation are hereby declared to be 
to promote the industrial develop- 
ment of the Soutfl; to become aa 
agency for gathering and disseminat- 
ing data regarding the resources of 
the South; to aid in organizing and 
maintaining commercial organiza- 
tions or business clubs throughout 
the South and in general to become 
the medium for stimulating the peo- 
ple of the Southern States into 
greater efforts for manufacturing 
their raw materials on their own 
soil, and also seek to interest capital 
to invest in the South and settlers 
to locate within its boundaries. 
ARTICLE III. 
Powers. 

This corporation through its Ex- 
ecutive Committee shall have power 
and authority to contract, sue and be 
sued, in its corporate name; make 
and use a corporate seal, the same to 
change at pleasure; to hold, receive, 
lease, hire and purchase property,- 
both real and personal, and to sell, 
mortgage or pledge the same; to bor- 
row and lend money; issue bonds and 
notes; make all by-laws, rules and 
regulations for the proper manage- 
ment of its affairs as may be neces- 
sary and proper, and to change, alter 
or amend the same at pleasure; to 
hire, employ and discharge all of- 
ficers, agents and employes, and fix 
their salaries. 

Said corporation may have an aux- 
iliary in each State. 

ARTICLE IV. 
Membership. 

Any person may become a member 
of this Association on paying the 
required membership fee and being; 
recommended by the Executive Com- 
mittee of this Association. 
ARTICLE V. 
Membership Fee and Dues. 



Held in Nciv Orleans } December 4-/, 1900. 



143 



The membership fee of this Asso- 
ciation shall be five dollars for in- 
dividuals, and ten dollars for firms 
and corporations, which must accom- 
pany the application, and the annual 
dues shall be the same as for mem- 
bership and must be paid at the be- 
ginning of the second year of mem- 
bership and each year thereafter, 
during term of membership. 

ARTICLE VI. 
Officers and Executive Committee. 

This Association shall have a Pres- 
ident, and one Vice-President from 
each Southern State, and a Secretary 
and Treasurer. Any other State rep- 
resented in its membership and by 
a delegate at its annual meeting, 
shall also be entitled to a Vice- 
President. The Executive Committee 
shall be composed of the President, 
Vice-Presidents and Secretary of the 
Association. Three Vice-Presidents, 
with the President and Secretary, 
shall constitute a quorum for the 
transaction of any business requir- 
ing action by the Executive Commit- 
tee, provided that every question 
arising for the necessary considera- 
tion of the Executive Committee 
shall be submitted to each member 
thereof at least ten days in advance 
of action thereon, and members shall 
be privileged to vote by letter to the 
Secretary. 

ARTICLE VII. 

Duties of Officers and Executive 
Committee. 

The duties of the officers of this 
Association shall be to advance the 
interests thereof in all legitimate 
ways, and aid in securing proper 
means to carry on its work. In the 
absence, death or resignation of the 
President and First Vice-President, 
the vacancy shall be filled by the 
Executive Committee. The Associa- 
tion shall hold its meetings annually, 
but nothing in this requirement shall 
prevent the Executive Committee 
from calling the Association together 
or calling a general Industrial Con- 
vention, whenever in their judgment 
any occasion requires it. 

The Executive Committee may es- 
tablish a Bureau or Lyceum as a sep- 
arate department of this Association, 
when conditions will warrant the 
same. But nothing in this require- 
ment shall operate to prevent the 
general work of the Association be- 



ing carried on by the regular of- 
ficers of the same in fulfillment of 
its plans and purposes. 

ARTICLE VIII. 
Election of Officers. 

The election of officers of this As- 
sociation shall be held annually un- 
der the supervision of two tellers to 
be appointed by the President. The 
voting shall be by ballot; should 
more than two persons be placed In 
nomination, the one receiving a ma- 
jority of the votes cast shall be de- 
clared duly elected. 

All officers shall remain in office 
until their successors are duly elected 
and shall have qualified. 

The following persons shall com- 
prise the Executive Committee, to- 
wit : 

H. H. Hargrove, President; W. Ai- 
Hemphill, First Vice-President;. N. P. 
Thompson, Secretary; J. C. Busft, 
Frank Hill, John P. Coffin, James 
P. Parish, Sidney Story, A. H. Lon- 
gino, Thomas L. Cannon, D. A. 
Tompkins, W. B. Smith Whaley, J. 
B. Killebrew, J. W. Riggins, B. F. 
Johnson, M. H. Kline and F. B. Thur- 
ber, and they shall hold their offices 
until their successors are elected and 
qualified. 

Members unable to attend meetings 
from any cause shall have the right 
tc grant power of attorney to mem- - 
bers to vote in their names forr of- 
ficers, or on any matters brought fre^ 
fore the Association on which they 
would r.avo a right 'to voce, if per- 
sonally present. 

ARTICLE IX. 
Amendments to Charter. 

This act of incorporation may be 
changed, modified or altered, or this 
corporation may be dissolved by a 
vote of three-fourths of the members 
of this Association present or repre- 
sented at a general meeting of the 
Association called for that purpose p . 
after thirty days' notice of such', 
meeting shall have been given by the' 
Secretary to each member directed 
to his last known residence, domicile^ 
or place of business. 

ARTICLE X. 
Dissolution. 

Whenever this Corporation is dis- 
solved, either by limitation of its 
charter or from any cause, its af- 
fairs shall be liquidated by two com- 
missioners to be appointed from 



144 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



among 'the members, by ihe Execu- 
tive Committee. Said Commission- 
ers shall remain in office until the 
affairs of said Association have been 
fully liquidated. In the event of the 
death of either of said commission- 
ers, the survivor shall continue to 
act. 

ARTICLE XL 
No member of this Association 
shall ever be held liable or responsi- 
ble for the contracts or faults there- 
of, in any further sum than his mem- 
bership fee or unpaid dues, or any 
balance due thereon, nor shall any 
mere informality in organization 



have the effect of rendering this 
charter null, or of exposing a mem- 
ber to any liability beyond the 
amount of his unpaid membership 
fee and dues. 

Thus done and passed in my no- 
tarial office at New Orleans afore- 
said, in the presence of Bernard 
Bruenn and Rufus Breitling, compe- 
tent witness of lawful age and re- 
siding in this city, who hereunto 
subscribe their names, together with 
said parties and me, notary, on the 
day and date set forth in the caption 
hereof. 



DEEP WATER AT GULF POETS. 

BY HON. E. L. RUSSELL. 



President Hargrove: I will now 
introduce to you Hon. E. L. Russell 
of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, who 
will address you on the subject of 
"'Deep Water at Gulf Ports." 

Hon. E. L. Russell then read the 
following paper: 

"Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of 
the Convention: I have been re- 
quested to address you to-day upon 
the subject of 'Deep Water at Gulf 
Ports,' and I assure you I am im- 
pressed with the importance of the 
duty which has been assigned me. 

"More than half of the area of the 
"United States, exclusive of Alaska 
and more recent additions, is drained 
into the Gulf of Mexico, and as tne 
•conditions affecting the movement of 
traffic, from an economic standpoint, 
are not dissimilar from those af- 
fecting the movement of water which 
makes its course in the direction of 
the least resistance, it may be fairly 
said that the traffic of the great val- 
ley lying between the Alleghanies 
and the Rocky mountains is natur- 
ally tributary to the Gulf of Mexico. 

"The emigrants who first reached 
America settled upon the shores of 
the Atlantic, and pushed the tide of 
civilization westward until ob- 
structed by the Blue Ridge and Alle- 
ghany mountains. These hardy pion- 
eer? then forced to the use of new 
means of entrance to the great coun- 
^^•y beyond these ranges, began to 
utilize the waterways emptying into 
the Gulf cf Mexico and reaching up 



into the heart of the new continent. 

"When cur national existence be- 
gan, the United States did not own 
one foot of the coast of the Gulf of 
Mexico, and nol until the Louisiana 
purchase in 1803, the acquisition of 
Florida in 1821, and the annexation 
of Texas in 1845, did the entire north- 
ern coast line of the Gulf pass into 
our possession. With our geograph- 
ical limits thus complete, the neces- 
sity of supplementing the waterways 
connecting with the Gulf of Mexico, 
at once became apparent, and early 
in 1840 the construction of a railroad 
from the Great Lakes to the Gulf 
became a matter of national concern, 
insisted upon by the statesmen of 
the time as essentially necessary to 
the progress and development of our 
national existence, x^arge donations 
of public land were made in aid of 
this project and the patriotism of the 
people was appealed to, to aid in its 
completion. This was but the fore- 
runner of numerous similar enter- 
prises, and the ports of the Gulf are 
to-day, connected with the interior, 
not only by their magnificent rivers, 
but Dy a system of railways which 
connect with the network of lines in- 
tersecting the great territory to 
which I have referred. 

"I -will not attempt to trace the 
settlement of this vast and produc- 
tive area, or to particularize as to 
the process by which the granary of 
the world was transferred from the 
Valley of the Nile to the banks of 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7 1900. 



145 



tho Mississippi and Missouri. I will 
n«'t attempt to show how the pro- 
ducts of the forests of this great 
section have been utilized for the 
bene tit of all civilized mankind, or 
how tbe mines of Tennessee and Ala- 
bama have been made governing fac- 
tors in the iron markets of the world. 
These are existing conditions to-day. 

"The foreign shipments of cotton 
and grain maintain a balance of 
trade in our favor and preserve our 
financial position among the nations 
of the world. The cotton States of 
the South produce 85 per cent, of the 
cotton supply of the world and near- 
ly 60 per cent, of the cotton exported 
from the United States is forwarded 
via the Gulf ports. The conditions 
affecting the export of grain are dis- 
similar from those affecting cotton 
in this important particular: This 
country having a practical monopoly 
of the cotton trade of the world, 
must supply a large part of the gen- 
eral consumptive demand, without 
regard to either the cost or facilities 
of transportation; the exports of 
grain, however, must be made in 
competition with the delivered price 
of grain shipped from all other cereal 
producing territory, and the small- 
est element in the total delivered cost 
is often of the greatest importance 
in determining the markets which 
can be successfully reached. With- 
in the past few years, the low cost 
of transportation over the lines of 
railway, with light grades running 
down the valleys reaching to the 
Gulf, has attracted a greatly aug- 
mented volume of foreign grain ship- 
ments via these ports, and new mar- 
kets have thus been opened to this 
important item of our products. The 
hope of the Western rarmer to-day 
is, that these facilities may be so 
increased and cheapened, that his 
products may more effectively meet 
the world competition into which he 
is necessarily brought. 

"With a power of production much 
greater than the needs of its own 
inhabitants, the central territory of 
the United States is beginning to 
feel, with increasing urgency, the 
want of outside markets for its sur- 
plus products. In the great race 
with the commodities shipped from 
other countries to the markets of the 
world, the cost of transportation is 



the dominant factor in determining 
the question of success or failure. In 
this contest, the farmers, manufac- 
turers and miners of the South and 
West, are looking towards the ports* 
of the Gulf to furnish such facilities, 
as will place them upon a plane of: 
equality, with the most favored por- 
tions of the globe. Everything which 
it has been possible for nature to- 
do, has been done to accomplish this- 
result. The natural lines of trans- 
portation have been laid along easy 
and inexpensive grades, and land- 
locked outports are located at the 
most convenient and advantageous 
points. Some slight obstructions in* 
terfere with the complete and per=- 
feet use of these ports, but I can but 
believe that the intelligent and all"! 
powerful efforts of our National Gov- 
ernment, now directed to this end; 
will soon so improve these harbors, 
that all obstacles will be removed to 
the rising tide of commerce now- 
pressing forward to these outlets to 
the sea. The State of Texas has a 
great port in the City of Galveston; 
Louisiana has New Orleans, the 
mistress of the Mississippi River 
system, and Florida the progressive^ 
City of Pensacola. Mr. Chairman, L' 
hope I may not be open to the charge 
of making an invidious distinction* 
in having reserved for last men,*- 
tion, that port which sits at the head 
of Mobile Bay. For many years, I 
have been a citizen of Mobile, and 
always deeply interested in every- 
thing affecting its prosperity, and I 
now have the honor of being the 
executive head of a line of railway 
which connects it with a great dis- 
tributing center of the productive 
West. Both of these facts I plead 
as extenuating circumstances for any 
partizan statement which I may 
make in regard thereto. Prior to 
the Civil War, which, for a time, put 
in eclipse the commerce and industry 
of the South, the value of the ex- 
ports which sought a way to the 
sea through Mobile, made this city 
third in rank, as to exports, of all 
the cities of the United States; but 
in later years the lack of depth of 
water between its docks and the sea 
prevented its successfully keeping up 
the competition with the improved 
facilities of other ports, and its ex- 
port trade was reduced to insignifl- 



146 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



cant proportions. The improvement 
of its channel, however, by the Gov- 
ernment, was followed by an instan- 
taneous and material increase in its 

- commerce, until now it is again re- 
suming its position as one of the im- 
portant exporting and importing 
ports of this country. What has been 
accomplished, however, is but a 
moiety of what we may rightfully 
expect in the near future. The river 
system, which empties into the beau- 
tiful bay which bears its name, 
pierces the iron and coal measures 
of the State of Alabama, and offers 
every facility for making this the 
cheapest coal port, and the most 
economical point for the shipment of 
rpig iron in the world. The channel 
'leading from its docks, now has a 
depth of twenty-three feet of water, 
and at the mouth of the bay, there is 
located one of the remarkable har- 
bors of the world. This deep water 
cup has an average depth of forty 
feet and an area sufficient to accomo- 
date a fleet of vessels. It is separ- 

. ated from the deep water of the Gulf 
by a bar, only a ship's length in 
width, which recent suryeys have 
shown can be removed at an insig- 

. mificant cost. When this is accom- 
plished, ships of the greatest draught 
can enter this land-locked harbor, 

1 fronting upon which the Government 

-owns more than four hundred acres 
of land. The importance of this work 
.to the entire commerce of the Gulf 
of Mexico, if only for the purpose 
of providing a harbor for refuge, 
where coal and supplies may be 
taken in quiet water, cannot be over- 
estimated, and the necessity for this 
improvement grows to greater pro- 
portions, when the demands of the 
port of Mobile as an exporting point 
for the products of the West, and 
for the cotton, iron, coal and timber 
of its own immediate section are 
taken into consideration. 

"With this digression, Mr. Chair- 
man, I return to the general ques- 
tion of Deep Water at Gulf Ports, 
for the purpose of saying, that the 
people whom I represent, while true 
to their own interests, have no jeal- 
ousy of the ports either to the east 
or the west of them, and are will- 
ing to give their aid to the general 
cause of deep water at Gulf ports, 
earnestly and honestly, with the 



hope that the time is not far dis- 
tant when all of these ports will be 
so improved, that the tide of export 
commerce from the West and South 
will pass unobstructed out to the 
world beyond, carrying the neces- 
sities and comforts of life, as the 
great Gulf stream, which flows be- 
tween Cuba and the Cape of Florida, 
does the heat and moisture, which 
blesses so large a proportion of the 
habitable globe." (Applause.) 

Deep Water at the Mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi River. 

The progress of the world gener- 
ally during the last quarter of the 
century now so near its close has 
proceeded at a greater speed than 
ever before in the history of the 
world, but amidst all these great 
changes, it is doubtful if any has 
been of more importance to the wel- 
fare of mankind generally than the 
wonderful evolution of the ocean car- 
rier. 

"A generation ago a vessel with a 
capacity of 3000 tons of cargo was 
quite a monster and but few trades 
were able to accommodate so large a 
vessel. . • 

"The increase in size of the vessels 
continued with comparative regular- 
ity, each vessel being but a trifle 
larger than its predecessor, until 
some twelve years ago, when the 
advent of three or four vessels into 
the American trade which were 
nearly double the size of most vessels 
then in use, created quite a furore 
in ocean transportation circles. 

"It was freely prophesied that the 
vessels were entirely too large to 
obtain full cargoes and trade with 
advantageous results to the owners, 
but the opposite was realized by the 
ship owning fraternity and these ves- 
sels with the capacity of some bOOO 
tons proved such profit making ma- 
chines that they at once marked out 
a new line of development in the 
ceaseless competition of the ocean 
carrying trade. 

"In the past ten years this develop- 
ment has amounted practically to a 
revolution. There are at present, 
vessels trading regularly to this and 
other countries with a capacity of 
16,000 tons, and there are vessels 
building to-day that will have a ca- 
pacity of over 20,000 tons of freight 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, igoo. 



147 



showing an increase in ten years 
an the maximum size of ocean car- 
riers of over 300 per cent and some 
seven times as great as the largest 
of a generation ago. 

"As an illustration of the capacity 
of tnese vessels, more readily com- 
prehended by the non-expert in such 
matters, there are vessels trading to- 
day to the port of New Orleans that 
require for a cargo three and one- 
half miles of loaded railroad cars, 
whilst there are other vessels trading 
to the United States that accomodate 
regularly five miles of loaded rail- 
road cars. 

"There are vessels building to-day 
for which seven miles of loaded rail- 
road cars will be required to fur- 
nish one full cargo. Twelve such 
vessels will carry all the freight that 
can be piled upon the railroad track 
between New Orleans and the capital 
of the State of Louisiana, ninety 
miles distant. 

"The incentive to the British ship 
owner in this gigantic advance was 
the immense economy which was 
«vinced in the working of the first 
few large steamers that were built 
some ten years ago. As a brief il- 
lustration of this economy a cargo 
vessel having the capacity of 4000 
tons will require a crew of, say, forty 
men, and consume about thirty tons 
of coal per day. .Whilst a vessel car- 
rying three times the quantity of 
cargo or 12,000 tons, will require a 
crew of only fifty men and will burn 
forty tons of coal per day to make 
the same speed as the smaller ves- 
sel. So that whilst her capacity is 
three times as great, the expense 
incurred upon the above two items 
is only about 25 per cent additional. 
"The cost of building the larger 
Tessel is also in somewhat like pro- 
portion. It is therefore very evident 
that tne larger vessel can operate at 
an immense economy over the 
smaller one. In fact, this economy 
is so pronounced that in the free 
open competition which exists us- 
ually in ocean transportation, the 
smaller vessel cannot exist at rates 
of freight which would prove highly 
renumerative to the larger one. 

"The cost of transportation to mar- 
kets is largely borne by the producer, 
and on bulky products forms a very 
large percentage of the total value. 



As this country is peculiarly a pro- 
ducer and seller to foreign markets 
in competition with the products of 
other countries, it is evident that 
the question of the cost of transpor- 
tation is a most important factor and 
indeed frequently a controlling in- 
fluence in this competition and there- 
fore any economy therein is a direct 
benefit to the producer, not alone 
giving him better prices for his pro- 
ducts, but frequently enabling the 
successful entry of his goods into 
markets from which he would be 
entirely debarred under less favor- 
able transportation facilities. 

"It is therefore evident that in our 
own country the farmers and manu- 
facturers with the millions whose 
welfare and whose very existence de- 
pends upon the successful competi- 
tion of their products in the mar- 
kets of the world are most directly 
and intensely interested in anything 
and everything that tends to improve 
and economize transportation both 
from the distant West to the sea- 
board, and across the great ocean 
highways. It is in fact impossible to 
limit the ramifications of this factor 
or exaggerate its influence upon the 
welfare of the whole of our com- 
munity. 

"Of course, the dimensions of these , 
larger vessels greatly exceed tnose of 
the smaller, so that the accomoda- 
tion of the docks, wharves and chan- 
nels at the seaports are the prime 
factors in limiting this development. 
The dimensions of a vessel carrying 
4000 tons will be roughly 350 feet 
length, 41 feet beam and 24 feet 
draft of water, whilst the vessel car- 
rying 12,000 tons will be 500 feet 
long with a beam of 56 feet and will 
draw 30 feet of water wnen deeply 
laden. There is to-day being built 
a vessel some 750 feet long by 79 
feet beam, probably with a draft 
load of 35 feet. 

"It was at first very generally be- 
lieved that the increase in size of 
vessels would stop short as soon as 
the limit of the facilities and chan- 
nels of the principal seaports was 
reached. This surmise proved en- 
tirely wrong as the immense econ- 
omy of the large ocean carrier at 
once set in force an ambition and de- 
termination on part of numerous of 
the principal seaports of the world 



148 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



to accomodate their facilities to the 
requirements of these vessels. 

"In our country, the ports of New 
York, Boston, Philadelphia, Balti- 
more and New Orleans at once took 
up the matter with 'the Federal Gov- 
ernment, urging the improvement of 
their channels and of other facilities 
upon the ground of the immense 
economy in the cost of ocean trans- 
portation which would result from 
the use of large carriers and accrue 
to the direct benefit of the farmers 
and manufacturers of the country. 

"In Europe, the port of Liverpool 
alone decided on an expenditure of 
some twenty millions of dollars upon 
its already magnificent system of 
docks, in order that the gates might 
bo made wider and the channels 
deeper and the wharves longer, look- 
ing forward to the accommodation 
needed by vessels to be built in the 
near future 900 feet long and 90 feet 
beam. 

"The port of London is now earn- 
estly considering similar improve- 
ments, the ports of Hamburg, Brem- 
en, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Havre, 
and numerous others less important 
are also moving in this direction. A 
force that can prove so efficacious 
must indeed be momentous in its 
influence, and thanks to the wise 
policy of our government this coun- 
try stands to-day and apparently in- 
tends to remain, a leader in the de- 
velopment of such economical fa- 
cilities for the welfare of the general 
community. 

"I trust I may be permitted to di- 
gress here to express the strongest 
satisfaction with the policy of the 
Federal Government in expending as 
it has some three hundred millions 
of dollars since the declaration of in- 
dependence in rivers and harbor im- 
provements. It has in times past 
been severely denounced by ignorant 
critics, and doubtless useless, if not 
fraudulent appropriations have been 
frequently expended', but no invest- 
ment which this, or any other coun- 
try has ever, or can ever make, has 
been fraught with such magnificent 
results to the welfare of the com- 
munity. Without such improvements 
as have been thereby obtained, our 
country could never have held the 
proud position she has to-day, nor 
could the growth and development 



of the past fifty years have been real- 
ized in another century, if at alL 
Europe would have looked for and 
obtained elsewhere her supplies of. 
food and raw material and the tide 
of emigration and development 
might readily have set in an en- 
tirely different direction. The mag- 
nificent work of the rivers and har- 
bors committee of Congress has been 
a main factor in the development of 
the great vvest in helping to over- 
come the disadvantage of immense- 
aistances to the seaboard and has- 
made possible the successful culti- 
vation of the vast prairies a thous- 
and miles Inland by providing the 
absolute essential of cheap transpor- 
tation, both inland and across the- 
ocean. This absolutely essential 
work is still but in its infancy and 
the more liberal such wise appropria- 
tions, the greater the welfare, the 
prosperity, and the progress of our 
country. 

"I have probably said sufficient to 
show the urgent necessity of accom- 
modating the cheapest form of ocean 
transportation, that is the largest, 
and there is therefore no apology 
needed in reviewing briefly the action 
taken by the New Orleans Committee 
of Exchanges in urging upon the 
Federal Government the necessity of 
at once providing the mouth of the 
Mississippi River with a deeper,, 
wider and safer channel to the ocean. 

"Over four million tons of shipping, 
annually handle from the port of 
New Orleans to foreign ports, more 
than twelve million tons of produce. 

"Previous to the year 1879 the 
ocean trade of New Orleans was car- 
ried to sea through the greatest 
mouth of the river, the Southwest 
Pass, then, as now unimproved, but 
at that time affording a channel over 
the bar to the gulf varying from fif- 
teen to eighteen feet in depth. The 
largest class of vessels which could 
use this channel had a capacity of 
6000 bales of cotton and some 2000 
tons dead weight of cargo, and it 
was necessary even then that steam- 
ers should take on board a large 
portion of their coal for the voyage 
across in the open gulf, after they 
had crossed the bar at the entrance 
to the river. All this was expensive 
and caused great detention and the 
cotton farmer and the grain grower 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 



149 



"were obliged to pay liberally for 
ocean transportation, to obtain the 
service between New Orleans and 
the markets of Europe. Frequently 
two cents per pound or ten dollars 
per bale were paid to carry cotton 
iience to Liverpool, and as much, as 
:24 cents or 30 cents per bushed were 
frequently paid for grain. 

"In the year 1875 Mr. J. B. Bads, 
the noted engineer, obtained a con- 
tract from the Federal Government 
for the opening up of a channel with 
26 feet of water from the river Mis- 
sissippi to. the Gulf, and urged that 
the channel be made through the 
natural and best mouth of the river, 
the Southwest Pass, but as his 
jettying scheme was considered an 
experiment, grave doubts of its feas- 
ibility existed in the minds of many 
engineers, and of the community 
generally and he was obliged to take 
the South Pass, until then absolutely 
useless, and with only 9 feet of water 
in it, and make through that pass, 
some 12 miles long, a narrow chan- 
nel to the gulf. 

"The opening of the South Pass 
with a channel of some 26 feet depth 
by means of the Eads jetties was at 
once marked by an increase in the 
average size of vessels trading to the 
port and a corresponding decrease 
in the cost of ocean transportation. 

"In 1880, the average rate of 
freight on cotton had fallen to 3/4 
cents per pound or $3.90 per bale. In 
1896, it averaged 3/8 cents per pound 
or $1.95 per bale. Undoubtedly the 
improvements in constructions, and 
economy in working ocean vessels 
accounted for some of this decrease, 
but the main factor was, as undoubt- 
edly, the increase in the size of ves- 
sels trading to the port. 

"The Eads contract and its influ- 
ence upon the cost of ocean transpor- 
tation on cotton has saved to the 
farmers of this country not less than 
one hundred millions of dollars. On 
grain and other products it has 
caused similar immense economies. 
The South Pass has served its pur- 
pose well, and has proved a magnifi- 
cent investment for the whole 
community, but its day has now 
passed and it cannot be made to 
adapt itself to the requirements of 
^the present. 

"For this reason, we have turned 



again to the natural magnificent out- 
let through the Southwest Pass and 
the Government in response to our 
representations, has twice made care- 
ful surveys and obtained plans from 
the army engineers. Those plans 
provide for the opening up of a chan- 
nel through the Southwest Pass 1000 
feet wide with 35 feet depth of water 
at an expenditure of some six mil- 
lions of dollars, and we rely confi- 
dently upon such action by the pres- 
ent session of Congress, as will give 
to the gulf and the Mississippi val- 
ley a fitting navigable channel for 
its vast commerce, and an exit to 
the ocean more in keeping with the 
magnificence of the great river. 

"The opening of the Southwest 
Pass, as has been always the case 
under such improved conditions, 
will be followed by the advent to 
this port of an immense increase in 
size of ocean tonnage, and as surely 
by a corresponding decrease in the 
cost of ocean transportation. 

"For 300 miles inland from the 
passes at its mouth, the river Mis- 
sissippi affords an unbroken channel 
with a minimum depth of fifty feet 
of water all year round of a width 
far exceeding that which any vessel 
is ever likely to require. 

"Where is there elsewhere in a 
great country such a harbor as is 
thus afforded by the great Father 
of Waters, upon whose bosom the 
navies of the whole world could 
safely assemble together? 

"The work of the Federal Govern- 
ment in improving the channel of 
the river from St. Louis to New Or- 
leans is already having its benefi- 
cial effect and when this navigable 
waterway 1000 miles in length shall 
be complete, so that traffic can be 
carried unimpeded all the year 
around, the blessings of economy 
will be fully realized by the vast pop- 
ulation of workers on the farms and 
in the factories of the West, who 
will by this economy be enabled the 
better to compete in the ceaseless 
commercial strife to supply the mar- 
kets of the world, and the mighty 
river, the Father of Waters, will 
daily pursue its God given purpose 
as a constant and reliable benefactor 
to the intelligent virile community 
that lives upon its banks and great 
tributaries. 



150 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



"This historic City of New Orleans 
where we are to-day assembled has 
for more than a century exerted a 
powerful influence upon the wel- 
fare of the whole community, and its 
geographical situation at the en- 
trance to the great natural highway 
of the country has destined it ever to 
remain one of the leading ports. 
Though it suffered sorely from the 
cause 'that proved so disastrous to 
the whole South, and thereby was 
for a time displaced from its pre- 
vious proud position, it is now rap- 
idly regaining its former hold upon 
the trade of the country; is now 
probably second only to the port of 
New York, and is surely destined 
with the rapid development of the 
South and West, to some day run a 
close race for the premier position. 

"We of New Orleans are proud of 



our city, of its past history, of its 
present, and firm believers in its 
future for which we are learning to 
work heartily and wisely. We are 
proud of the glorious river upon 
whose banks our city is builded, but 
with no sense of localism or owner- 
ship, only of responsibility to rightly 
discharge the duty entrusted to us, 
that we may properly perform our 
function in the great body corporate 
of this lusty, growing, giant, nation. 
"We seek the improvement of the 
channel at the mouth of our own har- 
bor and also heartily favor the im- 
provement of all harbors and chan- 
nels, which can thereby advantage 
the great commonwealth which re- 
quires, and can ever utilize the 
special advantage and facilities, 
which one and all possess. (Ap- 
plause.) 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON DEEP WATER. 



Mr. M. J. Sanders then read the 
following report of the Committee 
on Deep Water, of which he was 
chairman. The resolutions were 
adopted. 

"Your Committee on Deep Water 
is of opinion that the subject matter 
placed in their hands is one of the 
most important that can be consid- 
ered by any convention. It is con- 
vinced that the providing of deep 
water so as to insure the most econ- 
omic form of transportation both 
from the far interior farms and fac- 
tories of our country to the sea- 
board and thence to the ocean, is 
an absolute essential to the pros- 
perity and welfare of the whole com- 
munity 

The great West and many other 
important districts in our country 
being immense distances from the 
seaboard cannot without the most 
economic form of transportation, 
ever hope to successfully place their 
products in foreign markets and 
there meet the competition of other 
countries. 

Your committee therefore, not only 
heartily indorses the action of Con- 
gress in regularly providing for con- 
siderable expenditure for the im- 
provement of rivers and harbors, 
but is of opinion that these appropri- 



ations should be still more liberally 
provided so that any and all im- 
provements of this nature that can 
be shown to be of advantage in fur- 
thering economic transportation may 
be executed without delay. 

Your committee, representing the 
States bordering on the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, after due consideration submits 
the following resolutions for adop- 
tion by the convention: 

Be it resolved, That Congress be 
urged at its present session to pro- 
vide for and order the construction 
of a proper navigable channel 
through the Southwest Pass of the 
Mississippi river, in order that the 
danger now threatening commerce: 
through the absolute insufficiency of 
the present channel through South 
Pass may be avoided as early as pos- 
sible. 

Resolved, That as the hurricane of 
September the 8th, 1900, laid waste a 
large part of the City of Galveston^ 
at which time more lives and prop- 
erty were destroyed than ever before 
in any English speaking community, 
and damaged the jetties and inner 
harbor of Galveston, this convention 
respectfully recommends and urges 
upon Congress to repair the said 
jetties and to deepen and widen the 
inner harbor and channel of Gal- 
veston, as speedily as possible, com- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 



151 



mensurate with the requirements of 
modern shipping and a first class 
port, and that Congress be requested 
to instruct the United States Engin- 
eering Department to examine into 
the practicability and feasibility of 
constructing suitable works on the 
gulf side of Galveston City, such as 
will preserve the property of the 
United States and the valuable har- 
bor and port at that place. 

Resolved, That this convention fa- 
vors the expenditure by the Federal 
Government of such an amount for 
deepening the water between Sabine 
Pass and the Neuces and Sabine 
rivers as the commerce of that sec- 
tion warrants. 

Resolved, That as the Department 
of United States Engineers has al- 
ready advised the construction of a 
channel from Galveston Roads to 
Houston, Texas, this convention 
recommends that Congress author- 
ize the completion of this work as 
soon as possible. 

Resolved, That the channel of Mo- 
bile harbor, because of the impor- 
tance and rapid growth of its com- 
merce and shipping, should be deep- 
ened from the sea to the City of Mo- 
bile, to thirty feet, and that it is of 



great importance, looking to that 
end, that the entire sum recom- 
mended by the engineer in charge of 
the existing work for expenditure 
during the coming year, should be 
granted by this Congress. 

Resolved, That the improvement of 
the Warrior and Coosa rivers is of 
national interest and when completed 
will greatly cheapen the transporta- 
tion of the valuable minerals of Ala- 
bama, Georgia and Tennessee, from 
the mines to the ocean. 

Resolved, That Congress be re- 
quested to appropriate an amount 
sufficient to dredge a channel 23 feet 
deep from Ship Island harbor to such 
point on the shore line as may be 
declared most feasible by the Gov- 
ernment engineers. 

Resolved, That the President of 
this Convention is hereby, requested 
to have all the foregoing resolutions 
forwarded to the proper Committees 
of Congress. 

Dr. Tichenor: I move that the re- 
port of the Committee on Deep Water 
be adopted. The motion was sec- 
onded and carried unanimously. 

The Convention adjourned until 2 
P. M. 



THUKSDAY AFTERNOON SESSION. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 



President Hargrove, in calling the 
Convention to order at 2:30 P. M., 
said: "The special, order for this 
afternoon is the report of the Com- 
mittee on Resolutions. Are you 
ready for the report? It was agreed 
that the report in question be sub- 
mitted. 

Committee on Resolutions. 

Mr. Kettig: The Committee has 
met and passed a number of resolu- 
tions which can be read and consid- 
ered seriatim. They are as follows: 

1. 

Whereas, The manufacture of tex- 
tiles in the Southern States has de- 
veloped marvelously during the past 
few years, and promises even greater 
progress in the future — there being 
mow in course of construction in the 



Southern States new mills amount- 
ing, in the aggregate, to more than 
a half million spindles, and 

Whereas, The citizens of Atlanta 
have inaugurated a movement for a 
great Southern Textile Exposition, 
that shall demonstrate, in a practical 
way, the remarkable progress al- 
ready made, and shall serve to at- 
tract the attention of the world to 
the limitless possibilities for the ex- 
tension of this industry here in the 
South, therefore be it 

Resolved, That the cordial indorse- 
ment of the Southern Industrial 
Convention to be given the proposed 
Southern Textile Exposition, to be 
held in Atlanta two years hence, and 
that the hearty co-operation of our 
membership is hereby pledged for 
the support of the movement. 

Introduced by W. A. Hemphill. 
Adopted. 



152 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



Whereas, There is to be held in 
the City of Buffalo, N. Y., in 1901, 
the Pan-American Exposition for the 
display of the products of all the 
countries of the Western Hemi- 
sphere; it is hereby 

Resolved, That the Southern In- 
dustrial Convention extends its good 
will to said Exposition and best 
"wishes for the success thereof. It is 
furthermore 

Resolved, That this Convention 
recommend to the States here repre- 
sented that each one of them make 
at said Pan-American ExporVwv?? an 
exhibit of its products and resources. 

Introduced by F. B. Thurber. 
Adopted. 

3. 

Whereas, Birmingham, Alabama, 
the coal, iron and steel centre of the 
South intends holding an Inter-Na- 
tional Industrial, Mineral and Me- 
tallic Exposition in the fall of 1904, 
in order to demonstrate to the world 
and especially to the countries trib- 
utary to the Nicaragua Canal, the 
truth of the claim that all articles 
into which iron and steel enter can 
be produced cheaper in the Birming- 
ham district than any other known 
point in the United States, therefore, 
be it 

Resolved, That this convention in- 
dorses the enterprise of the citizens 
of Birmingham and of the State of 
Alabama, and pledges to them its 
hearty co-operation and support in 
this laudable undertaking. 

Introduced by Hon. W. J. Cameron, 
Birmingham, Ala. Adopted. 
4. 

Resolved, That in view of the 
splendid prosperity the South now 
enjoys, and in view of the pro- 
nounced success of industrial enter- 
prise organized on Southern capital, 
it is the sense of this Convention 
that Southern development must 
come mainly by Southern capital and 
that the Southern projects offering 
for Northern investment shall first 
be backed by local financial sup- 
port. 

Adopted. 

5. 

Resolved, That this Convention 
respectfully asks the Hon. Secretary 
of the Interior to cause the topo- 
graphic surveys now being made by 



the United States Geological Survey- 
to be more readily pushed to comple- 
tion, in order that these maps may 
become available for use in the early 
mapping and classifying the soils, 
forests, mineral and water resources; 
and this Convention further re- 
spectfully petitions Congress to make 
such increase in the appropriations 
for the geological survey as will pro- 
vide for this more rapid preparation, 
of these topographic maps. 

Adopted. 

6. 

In view of the great importance of 
the water powers of the Southern 
States In connection with the devel- 
opment of tli': manufacturing iu'.v- 
ests; and of the underground or ar- 
tesian water supplies in connection 
with the maintenance of the health 
of the people of the South Atlantic 
and Gulf States; 

Resolved, That this convention re- 
spectfully petitions the Hon. Secre- 
tary of the Interior that he cause to- 
be prosecuted by the United States 
Geological Survey, a more extended 
investigation of the surface streams- 
and of the underground or artesian, 
water resources of these regions. 

Introduced by J. A. Holmes, North- 
Carolina. Adopted. 
7. 

Resolved, That this Convention au- 
thorizes its chairman to appoint a. 
committee consisting of one member 
from each State here represented ti> 
push the educational and legislative- 
work in behalf of better public high- 
ways in these States; and so co- 
operate with the National Good 
Roads League in its work along. 
these lines. 

Introduced by J. A. Holmes, N. C. 
Adopted. 



Be it Resolved, That the upbuild- 
ing of our American merchant mar- 
ine is very important to the further 
development of Southern industry, 
and, therefore, we recommend to our 
National Congress the early passag* 
of a bill for aiding all American ves- 
sels which shall be equitably based 
upon the tonnage actually carried, 
besides compensation for carrying: 
the mails. 

Adopted. 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-2, ipoo. 



153 



Dr. W. C. Stubbs, Chairman of the 
Committee on Agriculture, made the 
following report: 

Committee on Agriculture. 
We, the Committee on Agriculture 
beg leave to submit the following 
resolutions: 

First. Whereas agriculture is the 
paramount industry of the South- 
ern States and the industry, on the 
prosperity of which depends the pros- 
perity of every other industry, 

Resolved, That this Convention 
urge upon the several State Legis- 
latures the necessity of a well 
equipped Bureau of Agriculture and 
a liberal and comprehensive system 
of farmers' institutes as the most 
effective means of inducing the adop- 
tion of better methods on the farm 
and a more intelligent and profitable 
system of farming. 

Resolved, That we heartily indorse 
and commend the grand and impar- 
tial work performed by the Hon. 
James Wilson, Secretary of Agricul- 
ture, and we sincerely trust that he 
may be induced to remain with the 
present administration for the next 
four years in order that he may carry 
•out the extensive plans of agricul- 
tural development which he has pro- 
jected in every section of the Union. 
Resolved, That realizing the im- 
portance of correct reports of acre- 
age, condition and yield of crops 
throughout the Southern States, we 
recommend that each Southern State 
through its Legislature adopt pro- 
vision for the collection of accurate 
crop statistics after the plan already 
presented by the Association of Com- 
missioners of Agriculture of the Cot- 
ton States. 

Recognizing the fact that the great 
staple of the South is now sold at a 
price abnormally high, and fearing 
that the cotton grower may be led 
to abandon the better methods that 
have obtained during the low price 
of our staple, we urge upon the cot- 
ton grower the importance of con- 
tinuing the growing of his qwn sup- 
plies as far as may be, making cotton 
a surplus crop, and of continuing nis 
efforts toward the production of the 
fleecy staple at a cost that will en- 
able him to defy the competition of 
the world. 



While the present condition of 
agriculture has not reached the de- 
gree of excellence desired, yet this 
Convention finds great satisfaction 
and mucji gratification in the agri- 
cultural prosperity prevailing 
throughout the entire South. 

Mr. J. A. Holmes (of North Caro- 
lina) : I wish to submit the follow- 
ing additional resolutions: 

Resolved, That this convention re- 
spectfully petition Congress to grant 
the larger appropriations asked for 
by the Honorable Secretary of Agri- 
culture for the investigation of the 
forests, soils and road building con- 
ditions of this country. 

And it respectfully asks the Hon- 
orable Secretary of Agriculture to 
enlarge the work along these lines 
to be done by his department in the 
Southern States. 

This additional resolution was re- 
ferred to the Committee on Agricul- 
ture and added to its report. 

Dr. Stubbs: Speaking for the 
South, I may say that I wish I was 
as intimately acquainted with all of 
it as I am with my own State of 
Louisiana. Let me tell you some- 
thing of what we are doing in the 
State of Louisiana. We have three 
mililons of acres of land under culti- 
vation. We have enormous crops of 
cotton, sugar, rice and corn which 
on an average acreage would yield 
over $30.00 an acre. Twice as much 
as in any other State except Missis- 
sippi, which comes next with $19.00 
an acre. There is no heed to be 
pessimistical in regard to the future 
for Louisiana will be foremost in the 
march in the dawn of the twentieth 
century. Therefore, in presenting 
this report I think we have reason 
to congratulate ourselves on the 
great prosperity of the South during 
the last decade. 

I now move, Mr. President, that 
these resolutions be adopted. 

Mr. Killebrew (of Tennessee): I 
would like to say that Mr. Wilson 
is the only Commissioner of Agri- 
culture that this country ever had. 
He made frequent trips to the South 
and among other tnings said, "You 
people of the South know more about 
the negro than any other part of the 
country, and we are going to adopt 



154 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



your policy towards him in our new 
possessions." I desire to second the 
adoption of the report. 

The report was unanimously 
adopted. 

Mr. Wilson (of Texas): I move 
that we turn aside from our pro 
gramme of to-day and proceed with 
the election of officers. 



Professor Knapp: I would say 
that if this motion is adopted there 
would be no use in attempting to- 
continue this convention, because 
after 'the officers are elected interest 
in the proceedings would wane. 
Thei'efore, if this motion is persisted 
in I will move adjournment forth- 
with. 



THE PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION. 



_ Mr. Sidney Story here called atten- 
tion to the fact that Commissioner 
General John B. Webber, of the Pan- 
American Exposition of Buffalo was 
present, and suggested that he be 
allowed an opportunity to address 
the convention in regard to that ex- 
position. 

Col. John B. Webber: "Gentlemen, 
I am indebted to you for the privil- 
ege of putting before such a repre- 
sentative body as this is, the objects 
of the Buffalo Pan-American Exposi- 
tion, to be held at Buffalo in 1901. 
I appreciate your courtesy in turn- 
ing aside from your regular pro- 
gramme to hear what I have to say 
in reference to my home from which 
I have traveled so many nundred 
miles to be with you on this occasion. 
The Exposition aims at a high stand- 
ard, its motto is quality, not quan- 
tity. We do not expect to reach the 
magnitude of Chicago, but in the 
matter of attendance, in the choice 
character of its exhibits we propose 
to take second place to none. Our 
principal feature will be an electrical 
display, to which the proxiniiiy of 
the great falls at Niagara, just thirty 
minutes distant from our exposition 
grounds by rail, will enable us to 
make on a scale beyond belief. The 
electrical features of an unique and 
comprehensive character are being 
arranged for, the power for whicir 
will be drawn from that great force 
which has been rushing over the 
precipice for ages. The Exposition 
is Pan-American, embracing the 
three Americas, North, South and 
Central. I cordially invite the co- 
operation and participation of the 
sister States of the Union in order 
to make this exposition a complete 
success. 

"In this great City of New Orleans, 



the metropolis of this Southland, the 
chief city of the country south of the 
Ohio river or even south of St. Louis, 
I would like to see that the Louisiana 
Legislature had risen to its oppor- 
tunity, and when it had a chance 
taken the necessary steps to make a 
proper exhibit of what you have here 
to show in Louisiana. While there 
is yet time I wish I might say that 
it had already done that. We earn- 
estly desire the participation and co 
operation of the South, the States 
which now stand but on the thres- 
hold of development so important,, 
with possibilities so magnificent that 
it is hard for the mind to grasp them. 
With the two great oceans united by 
the isthmian canal, with the products 
of the Atlantic and the Gulf States 
pouring through it to the Pacific and. 
thence to the world, then and not 
till then will it be time to close the 
first chapter in the history of Am- 
erican achievement, and I firmly be- 
lieve that history will credit the 
great Pan-American Exposition of 
1901 with having helped to the at- 
tainment of this end. (Applause.) 

Mr. Wilson: I desire to renew my 
motion that we lay aside our pro- 
gramme and take up the question of 
selection of the next place of meet- 
ing and the election of officers. 

President Hargrove: I would ap- 
peal to you, gentlemen, to avoid the- 
possibility of bringing this Conven- 
tion to a sudden close, as it is my 
belief that if this motion is carried 
and the business in question com- 
pleted that there will be no conven- 
tion to-morrow. 

Mr. M. J. Sanders: I move that 
the motion be tabled for the reasons 
stated by the chairman, and also- 
because due notice should be given.. 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



155 



Mr. Grubbs: I second that. 

The motion was tabled by a large 



majority, and the programme re- 
sumed. 



AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF THE SOUTH. 

BY PROF. H. B. ATTWATER. 



Mr. S. F. B. Morse, of the Southern 
Pacific Railroad, who was next on 
the programme, not being present, 
the next speaker announced was 
Prof. H. B. Attwater, of Houston, 
Texas, whose subject was the "Agri- 
cultural Resources. of the South," and 
particularly of the State of Texas. 
Prof. Attwater is connected with the 
Texas Experimental Station. 

He startled his hearers many times 
with his apparently abnormal state- 
ments, but. he proved them. He had 
with him almost a wagonload of the 
products of the South and the raw 
material. He made a hit with the au- 
dience when he said that a Texas pro- 
fessor always works with his coat 
off, and then he divested himself of 
his. The rapidity with which he dis- 
played the natural resources of the 
South pleased the Southern delegates 
and startled those from the North. 
His address was as follows: 

"Mr. President and Gentlemen of 
the Southern Industrial Convention: 
Ten years ago a great many people 
outside of the State of Texas, as well 
as many Texans themselves, were 
under the impression that all this 
State was capable of producing was 
immense quantities of corn, cotton, 
cattle, cowboys and Colonels. Dur- 
ing recent years our great pine for- 
ests, our iron and oil fields, our 
fruit, sugar, rice and other cultivated 
crops have attracted much attention, 
but as yet very little attention has 
been given to our wonderful natural 
products and undeveloped resources. 
We are undoubtedly letting millions 
of dollars worth of valuable raw ma- 
terial go to waste every year, and I 
think the present occasion a very 
favorable opportunity and proper 
time to call attention to some of the 
important natural products of the 
great State of Texas. I am sure that 
it will prove interesting to you who 
have met together on this occasion 
for the purpose of discussing the fu- 
ture development of the Southern 
States. 



"A large portion of the State of 
Texas is to-day practically unex- 
plored, so far as the natural pro- 
ducts and resources are concerned. 
West of the City of Houston, extend- 
ing southwest to the mouth of the 
Rio Grande and northwest to El 
Paso, lies a vast stretch of country 
equal in size to two or three ordinary 
States. Throughout a considerable 
portion of this particular part of the 
State all kinds of agricultural pro- 
ducts yield bountiful crops. So great 
is the fertility of the soil that no 
artificial fertilizers are ever required. 
I know of a number of instances 
where fields have been pointed out. 
to me which are said to have been in 
constant cultivation and producing- 
good crops for over one hundred 
years. I know of one particular place 
where five hundred bushels of yel- 
low yams were raised on a single 
acre, and we have had sweet pota- 
toes sent to our exhibit weighing over 
twenty pounds, and watermelons 
from seventy-five pounds to ninety 
pounds in weight. 

"In the western part of this terri- 
tory, the great washing rainfalls > 
which frequently sweep over this re- - 
gion do not always come at the need- - 
ed time for the farmers' crops, and': 
while this disadvantage will eventu- 
ally be overcome by the inaugurations 
of extensive irrigation systems, water 
storages and artesian wells, the ter- 
ritory in question Is at present chiefly . 
occupied by stockmen. It embraces 
some of the largest cattle and sheep 
ranches in the world; county after 
county untouched by railroads, and 
abounds in valuable natural resources 
and raw material of commercial 
value, which could be used in indus- 
trial enterprises. 

"In this paper I propose to call 
your attention briefly to some of 
these natural products, which lie dor- 
mant in this great section of the 
South, simply waiting the magic 
touch of the capitalist, combined with. 



156 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



energy and enterprise, to develop in- 
to future important industries. 

"The plants and vegetable products 
of this particular region, known to 
have useful properties or to be of 
value to commerce and industries, 
are of special importance. 

"Besides the trees of medium or 
larger size which are used in con- 
struction and for fuel, fencing, posts, 
etc., the country supports a growth 
of smaller trees of many varieties, 
with a hard, close-grained, rich- 
colored wood suitable for cabinet 
making, furniture, etc. 

"Some of them furnish edible fruit 
and nuts, and many produce valuable 
sums, dyes and perfumes. 

"These growths are known as 
■"chaparral' thickets and cover hun- 
dreds of square miles. This vegeta- 
ble growth includes flax and hemp 
plants, and from some of the com- 
monest weeds, which grow wild on 
thousands of acres, valuable commer- 
cial fibres may be ootained. 

"The barks and roots of many of 
the trees contain the best tanning 
material. 

"There are also tea and coffee 
plants, pepper and spice plants, and 
an endless variety of medicinal 
plants, as well as those which con- 
tain antidotes against poison, and the 
bites of insects and venomous rep- 
tiles. 

"It is the natural Home of the 
grape, several varieties of which 
grow wild and to enormous size their 
tangled vines covering the limbs jf 
the trees, and forming overhead gi- 
gantic arbors and bowers, bearing 
tons of large, fine grapes. The fa- 
mous Texas 'mustang' wine is made 
from grapes growing on a wild vine 
called by this name. Around some 
of the ranches where cultivated 
grapes have been tried during the 
last few years, their growth has 
simply been astonishing. It is a fact 
that the choicest California varieties 
of grapes flourish even better than 
on the Pacific coast, and are ripe and 
ready for market from two to three 
weeks earlier than in that State. 

"Then there are numerous orna- 
mental and hedge shrubs, also pas- 
ture and hay grasses and forage 
plants. Some of the rare plants 
and flowers to be seen in the 
Northern hothouses and European 



conservatories grow wild in pro- 
fusion; and during some months in 
the year paint the landscape red, 
white and blue before being trampled 
under foot by cattle and horses. 

"Every month and every rain pro- 
duces a fresh crop of bloom. Here 
is the home of the honey bee, and 
they store their honey in the canon 
caves and hollow trees. Here also 
the silkworm thrives, and the cli- 
mate and conditions are exactly 
suited to the silk industry. 

"Besides the vegetable products, 
the undeveloped resources of this re- 
gion include much other raw material 
of more or less value and importance. 
Wild animals of several kinds are 
still numerous, and provide hair for 
brushes, fur for felting and skins and 
hides for other purposes. Rich min- 
eral deposits are just beginning to 
attract attention. 

"In the upper Rio Grande district, 
silver mines are now being worked, 
and gold and quicksilver have recent- 
ly been discovered in paying quan- 
tities. Other valuable minerals are 
known to exist. In some localities 
coal occurs. There are hills of gran- 
ite and mountains of marble prac- 
tically untouched; sandstone and 
limestone and rock which furnishes 
the best cement and plaster of Paris. 

"Inexhaustible supplies of the fin- 
est flint sand are found for the man- 
ufacture of glass, and great deposits 
of kaolin for making china and crock- 
ery ware. There are beds of clay 
miles long by miles wide suitable for 
brick, sewer pipe and earthenware. 

"In the interior asphaltum, mica, 
gypsum and ochre are found in large 
quantities, and valuable mineral 
paints have been discovered at many 
points where wells have been dug or 
bored. Along the coast there are 
miles of salt, marl, phosphate and 
ov-ter beds awaiting development. 

"Sulphur and other flowing wells 
of mineral waters are constantly be- 
ing obtained, and in one of the Rio 
Grande counties the artesian water 
comes so near the surface that flow- 
ing wells have been started by simply 
driving a gas pipe into the ground. 

"Other useful and valuable raw ma- 
terial could be mentioned, to be 
found in the territory referred to, 
and intelligent investigations would 
doubtless result in new discoveries. 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



15T 



"In conclusion, I will say this for 
ment of this portion of the State of 
Texas, one great advantage which 
this region possesses is its fine cli- 
mate and healthy atmosphere. There 
are no dismal fever breeding swamps 
along the Texas coast to contami- 
nate the breezes from the Gulf, which 
prevail during the hot months. As 
a health resort, this section of the 
State is fast gaining a world-wide 
reputation. For the sportsman, fish 
and game of many kinds abound. 
The tarpon, the celebrated silver king 
of the finny tribe, swarms in the 
bays and passes along the coast at 
certain seasons of the year, and the 
wild gobbler, the noblest of all Amer- 
ican game birds, is still found in 
great numbers throughout the chap- 
arral and cedar regions. Myriads of 
geese, ducks, snipe and plover are to 
be found, this being directly in the 
line of flight of the great spring and 
fall migrations of water fowl and 
other game birds, to and from their 
breeding grounds in the North. There 
are several varieties of the bob- 
white, which furnish the finest quail 
shooting in the world. Deer are so 
numerous that venison is not con- 
sidered a luxury. I venture to say 
that if you were traveling to-day 
through Western Texas they would 
feed you on deer meat at most of the 
ranches you would stop at, and oc- 
casionally you would be treated to 
'bear bacon.' In short, this region 
justly deserves the title of the sports- 
man's paradise and the hunter's 
heaven. 

"I believe that when all these facts 
become better known, they will sure- 
ly attract serious attention. Then 
the steel rails will begin to pierce 
the chaparral thickets in different di- 
rections and the iron horse go thun- 
dering across the mesquite prairies 
and through the live oaks; and the 
manufacturer, the grape grower and 
others will invade the cattle king's 
domain; and along the railroads aui 
around the reservoirs will spring up 
towns and villages, and the smoke 
from the mills will rise and mingle 
with the clouds which float over mil- 
lions of acres where now the buz- 
zard serenely soars. And the shrill 
whistle of the locomotive will be 
heard in the land, where now the 
solitary cowboy rides and the coyote 



sneaks in the brush, undisturbed by 
the sights and sounds of advancing 
development on this favored section 
of the great South. 

"In connection with the develop- 
my part of Texas: There are signs 
of great improvements. We have 
come to the conclusion that we have 
been paying too much attention to 
politics and not enough to business. 
We have been doing some mighty 
good preaching and some mighty 
poor practicing. We have too many 
people telling others what they 
should do and doing nothing them- 
selves. We have decided that we 
have too many lawyers stirring up 
useless litigations and not enough 
farmers stirring up the soil. 

"Like those of all other Southern 
States, the people of Texas have a 
reputation for hospitality and gener- 
osity, but it is not because we are 
generous enough, but because we are 
fools enough that we have besn sub- 
scribing libei ally toward the subsi- 
dies and bank accounts of New Eng- 
land politicians and millionaires, 
and toward building their mansions 
on the Hudson, while we ought to 
bave been building cotton mills for 
ourselves in our own State. 

"To prove that we are in earnest 
and mean business in future, Texas 
sends to this Convention a large del- 
egation of interested workers, whom 
I know are anxious and willing to> 
join with you in furthering any/ 
movement you may decide upon,, 
whereby the industrial development, 
may be advanced, not only in out- 
Lone Star State, but in all our sister- 
States throughout the sunny South."" 

Prof. Attwater carried on the plat- 
form a section of grape vine grown 
in Bee County, Texas, which was 
three feet in circumference and which 
it was estimated had carried two 
tons of grapes. He placed a bottle 
of wine made from the grapes in 
front of the Chairman with the re- 
mark that it "might enliven the pro- 
ceedings." He showed the assem- 
blage some of the raw products of 
Texas, such as silk, oil, kaolin, hard 
woods, paper made from cotton seed 
hulls, flint sand, hemp, ramie, etc. 

As an evidence of the satisfaction 
of the Convention with the address, 
Prof, Attwater was tendered a vote 
of thanks on the motion of Mr. Cobb- 



158 Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention^ 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF THE SOUTH. 

BY PROF. H. J. WEBBER. 



Prof. H. J. Webber (of the United 
States Department of Agriculture), 
spoke as follows: 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I regret 
■very much that it was not possible 
for Prof. Milton Whitney, whose 
:name appears on the programme, to 
address you on such an important 
subject as the 'Agricultural Re- 
sources of the South,' as in being 
-asked to take his place on this oc- 
casion, I have had to do so with 
practically no opportunity for prep- 
aration. I will attempt, however, to 
give some idea of the valuable work 
-which is being done by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture in developing 
Southern agricultures. I have witn 
me samples of Egyptian cotton 
grown in Louisiana, which compares 
very favorably with the Egyptian 
varieties." 

In connection with his remarks on 
the acclimatization of Egyptian cot- 
ton, Prof. Webber exhibited a sam- 
ple case containing the following 
specimens: 

1. Janovitch Egyptian Cotton, 
grown at Lake Charles, La. 

2. Imported Egyptian cotton, first- 
class (variety unknown, but proba- 
bly Mit AM). 

3. Egyptian Cotton grown at Co- 
lumbia, S. C, from seed of a strain 
grown for five generations in Texas 
by Mr. Wentworth. 

4. Ashmouni, an Egyptian Cotton 
grown at Columbia, S. C, from im- 
ported seed. 

Prof. Webber next told of the va- 
rious experiments which the Depart- 
ment was carrying on in the raising 
of cotton. He said that the growers 
as a rule were careless in planting 
the seed, paying insufficient attention 
to the quality. The Department was 
endeavoring to correct this by send- 
ing information on the subject to 
farmers. Two years ago, the De- 
partment started to investigate a new 
disease, the ravages of which had 
devastated many plantations, and 
some sea island plantations had been 
abandoned. The remedy for this dis- 
ease consisted in the selection of re- 
sisting strains of cotton and propo- 



gating from these immune varieties. 

In connection with the tobacco 
work of the Department of Agricul- 
ture, Prof. Webber showed the Con- 
vention a map of the area of the 
Connecticut Valley where fine leaf to- 
bacco is grown. The Department is 
devoting considerable attention to 
soil work, and maps are being pre- 
pared showing where different quali- 
ties of tobacco, cotton and other pro- 
ducts of the soil would flourish. 

Formerly, the fermentation of to- 
bacco was supposed to be due to bac- 
teria, but the work of the Depart- 
ment has shown that it is not the 
work of bacteria but that it is or- 
ganic in the plant itself. 

The working being done by the De- 
partment in regard to tobacco is 
of the most important nature. A 
triumph has been achieved in grow- 
ing finer Sumatra tobacco than that 
grown on the Island of Sumatra it- 
self. It is the best wrapper tobacco 
in the world. The seed, however, 
has to be imported, because after 
three years the plant degenerates. 
The Dutch Government on hearing 
of the success of these experiments, 
prohibited the importation of the 
seed. The work of the Department 
has been extended along two lines, 
one remedying the Alkali conditions 
of the soil and the other the im- 
porting and breeding of plants that 
can resist these adverse conditions. 
Good work has been done in the im- 
portation of plants and their adapta- 
tion to this climate. The finest date 
palms have been imported from 
Egypt, and there is an alfalfa from 
Egypt which is also being success- 
fully grown here. In fact, this Egyp- 
tian alfalfa is grown here with more 
success than the ordinary alfalfa 
grown in the West. The work of the 
Department has been largely given 
up to importation and modification 
of plants, so that they may be able 
to resist adverse conditions. Much 
time has been given to the study of 
diseases, and remedies have been 
found for many of them. 

Experiments have been made with 
oranges with a view to producing 



Held in New Orleans } December 4-7 } 1900. 



159 



a hardy orange, with the result that 
twelve varieties of ever-green fruit 
have been" cultivated, hardier than 
anything before known. 

In connection with rice, some im- 
portant investigations had been con- 
ducted in reference to the importa- 
tion of "Kinshu" from Japan. All 
this work shows what great progress 
is being made by the Department 
and the experiments referred to have 
been productive of many improve- 
ments in the Southern States. 

Prof. Webber described the various 
bulletins and publications issued by 
the Department, and exhibited pho- 
tographs to illustrate different points 
of his lecture, which, on account of 
■its eminently practical nature, was 
listened to with close attention. 



Mr. Wilson: I desire to offer a 
resolution calling attention to the 
recommendation of Prof. Whitney 
that tobacco should and can be grown 
in Texas, and requesting that Con- 
gress establish a tobacco experiment 
station in Texas. 

Prof. Stubbs: I endorse this reso- 
lution, and think that the support of 
this Convention may aid Prof. Whit- 
ney and Prof. Webber in their ef- 
forts to obtain increased appropria- 
tions for the purpose of establishing 
small experiment stations through- 
out the South. 

The resolution was temporarily 
withdrawn, so that it might be 



amended to conform with the views 
of Prof. Whitney and Prof. Webber, 
and was subsequently adopted in the 
following form: 

Whereas, The chief of the Division 
of Soils, Milton Whitney, in his an- 
nual report issued to-day, makes an 
earnest request that Congress au- 
thorize an appropriation for experi- 
menting with tobacco culture in the 
State of Texas. 

Regarding Texas, Mr. Whitney 
says in part: "My investigation of 
soils, climatic conditions and pro- 
ducts of Texas have convinced me 
that the conditions are exceedingly 
favorable there for the production of 
a desirable filler leaf tobacco, from 
which we may expect to get the rich 
flavor and aroma of the best Havana 
product. 

"The development of such a crop 
in Texas would be worth at a con- 
servative estimate not less than $8,- 
000,000 or $10,000,000. This is one 
of the most important fields that 
could be taken up, and the work 
should be started at the earliest pos- 
sible time." Therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the Southern In- 
dustrial Convention indorse the rec- 
ommendation of Mr. Whitney and 
Secretary of Agriculture, and urge, 
upon Congress to make the necessary 
appropriation to carry on the Tobac- 
co experiments in the south. 

Adopted. 



DAIRYING AND DAIRY PRODUCTS IN THE SOUTH. 

BY J. P. ADAMS. 



Mr. J. P. Adams of New Orleans: 
"Before proceeding to read a paper 
on 'Dairying and Dairy Products in 
the South,' I may say that I desire 
to apologize for being on this pro- 
gramme. I think that the gentlemen 
who arranged the programme in- 
tended to put up a job on you by in- 
troducing this subject. It is too bad 
to have to spoil such a feast on cot- 
ton and factories as we have been 
reveling in for the past two days with 
a dessert on dairying. Incidentally, 
I think that the officers of the Con- 
vention intended to put up a job on 
me also. Now I want to assure you 
that it is not going to work, be- 
cause I will incidentally mention 



cotton too during the few moments 
that I will detain you, so that you 
may not forget the subject which has 
been so ably and extensively dis- 
cussed here. It has been suggested 
that it was not advisable to encour- 
age the planter to increase his cot- 
ton acreage as it would result in an 
over-production. In that case I ask 
what is he going to do? What other 
industry do you offer him for em- 
ployment? 

"As preliminary to the discussion 
of the subject of 'Dairying and Dairy 
Products in the South,'' I wish to 
make a brief retrospect of this great 
industry. Dairying is of ancient ori- 
gin. Its history is as old as the 



160 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



history of civilization. Written ref- 
erence to it is found in India and 
Ceylon as far back as 2,000 years 
before Christ, also evidences of the 
remote use of dairy products are 
found in all European and Asiatic 
countries excepting China and Japan. 

"To-day the use of milk and butter 
is general and not limited to any 
class or locality; it is regarded as a 
necessity and its production and dis- 
tribution engages a large part of 
our population. 

"While more or less practiced in 
all ages, dairying has only become a 
recognized industry within recent 
years. The first creamery or butter 
factory was established in this coun- 
try less than fifty years ago. Now 
there are about 11,000 butter and 
cheese factories in the United States, 
distributed principally through the 
Northern and Eastern States. New 
York, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Wis- 
consin lead in dairy products — in 
manv of these and adjoini/jig States 
dairying is one of the chief occupa- 
tions of the farmer. 

"The evolution of dairvina: in tb° 
past twenty-five years has been mar- 
velous and far greater than any other 
branch of husbandry. It is regarded 
as among the most progressive and 
highly developed forms of farming, 
and the inducements it offers to-day 
to American farmers in many sec- 
tions of t.hp TTni+p' 1 States is ^renter 
than any other department of farm- 
ing. 

"In gross investment it is exceeded 
by few other branches of industry. 
The total value of the dairy pro- 
ducts of the United States for 1898, 
consisting of milk, cheese, skim milk 
and calves of the dairy cows, is es- 
timated by our Government authori- 
ties at $500,000,000. There were 17,- 
000,000 milk cows valued at $370,000,- 
000, that produced this enormous 
sum. 

"The annual milk consumption of 
the United States for 1899 as milk 
and cream, was 2,090,000,000 gallons. 
The production of butter 1,500,000,000 
pounds, and of cheese 300,000,000 
pounds. Only one-fourth of the but- 
ter is factory made while nearly all 
cheese is factory made. 

"It should not be assumed, by 
these figures, that dairying is being 



overdone, and likely to soon become 
unprofitable. Such is not the case. 
The home consumption of dairy pro- 
ducts, particularly with greater in- 
dustrial prosperity, is increasing 
from year to year, and while our 
consumption thereof per capita is 
not now as large as in most Euro- 
pean countries, though we are the 
greatest dairy country in the world, 
we have every reason for believing 
that in time the food value of these 
products will, be more fully appre- 
ciated here as in the older countries. 

"We have not only the foregoing 
facts to prove that the dairy business 
is not overdone in the United States, 
but we have other evidences. While 
the production of butter in 1899 was 
1,500,000,000 pounds, at the same time 
there was also manufactured 82,000,- 
00D pounds of imitation butter, 
known as oleomargerine, fully 75,- 
000,000 pounds of which was sold as 
pure butter and consumed as such. 
If the Grout Bill is passed, and action 
upon it is excepted this session by 
Congress, a part of the trade of this 
spurious article will be diverted to 
the real article, which will result 
in a great stimulus to the dairy bus- 
iness, especially in the South where 
now a large per cent, of it is sold 
by deception. We also have great op- 
portunities of increasing our export 
business. The European market for 
our dairy products are now opening 
up. The exports are yet small, but 
will within a few years amount to 
one-third of the total production, 
which insures the maintenance of 
good prices, which last year, for 
all dairying products, especially but- 
ter, were considerably higher than 
for several years. 

"Modern dairying to-day is just 
as much a business as any other com- 
mercial or manufacturing under- 
taking. It affords the same oppor- 
tunities and in a practical sense is 
a manufacturing business; its success 
being now a question of management 
rather than location. 

"It has been a popular belief, and 
we may say it is yet, that conditions 
are entirely against successful dairy- 
ing in the South. That the industry 
must be restricted to narrow geo- 
graphical limits lying between the 
40th and 45th parallel of latitude ex- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



161 



tending from the Atlantic coast to 
the Missouri river. That the lands, 
or the soil jn the South are not 
adapted and that climatic conditions 
are detrimental to stock and their 
value for dairy purposes, and es- 
pecially that climatic conditions are 
against the manufacture of good but- 
ter and cheese. 

"In this industry, as has been the 
case in many others now prospering 
in the South, this belief has been 
proven fallacious. 

"While there are, of course, natural 
land advantages which enter into the 
cost of the production of milk; the 
ice machine, cream separator and 
aerator, and the general care of milk 
from the time it leaves the cow, 
together with science employed in 
the operation of a modern creamery, 
has overcome climatic conditions in 
the successful manufacture of good 
butter and cheese. 

"The founding of dairy experi- 
mental schools in nearly all of the 
Southern States, resulting in special 
education and tests, and the many 
private dairy farms and creamery 
plants that have in the past few 
years been established and are to- 
day thriving in the South, have dem- 
onstrated the practicability of dairy- 
ing and the manufacture of dairy 
products in the Southern States be- 
yond a question of doubt. Not only 
have the schools and private experi- 
ments demonstrated the practica- 
bility of the business, but they have 
proven that the South, with its cheap 
and productive lands, fine water and 
mild climate, offers greater induce- 
ments to the dairy farmer to-day 
than any other section of the United 
States. 

"It is needless to mention here the 
names of owners or give the number 
of fine pure blooded and graded dairy 
heards that are being raised in the 
South, proving the fallacy of the old 
argument that our climatic condi- 
tions are also detrimental to the 
breeding of dairy animals and their 
producing ability, for this fallacy 
too, has long since been exploded. 

"The greatest milch cow, Lillv 
Flag, in the world in her dav 
was bred, dropped, raised and 
made her record in one of the 
extreme Southern States not long 



ago, and it was not an accident 
either, for the same herd, besides 
numerous others, have produced ani- 
mals that have made records in the 
same line and there is, therefore, no 
longer any question but that the 
Southern raised dairy cow is as ef- 
ficient in her line as the Northern 
raised animal. 

"It is a recognized fact that wher- 
ever good beef can be produced, also 
can good dairy products be produced, 
and the very conditions supposed to 
be most detrimental to cattle raising 
and dairying in the South, have 
proven to be most advantageous to 
the business when the care and cost 
of maintaining a herd is considered. 
Prof. W. R. Dodson, botanist of the 
Agricultural and Mechanical College 
of Louisiana, in speaking of the for- 
age crops in the South before the 
Inter-State Farmers' Convention held 
at Vicksburg, Miss., in 1898, said in 
the course of his remarks 'that he 
had not claimed that the South had 
any material advantages in the pro- 
duction of concentrated feeds, but he 
believed it could stand on a par with 
any other section in this respect; 
while in the way of forage crops he 
would attempt to show that the cli- 
mate gave it many advantages.' After 
reviewing the conditions substantiat- 
ing his claims, he continued thus: 
'Then, when we can raise more stuff 
to the acre, more crops in a given 
period of time, each richer in food 
value than the crops in the North, is 
it not evident that we have every ma- 
terial advantage for stock raising? 
These crops will also make our soil 
richer, gathering nitrogen from the 
air and adding it to the soil. When 
pasturing facilities are compared, the 
advantages are still greater in favor 
of the South. While the Northern 
farmer is compelled to provide ex- 
pensive houses to protect his animals 
from sleet, snow and the cold north- 
ern winds, a simple shed affords am- 
ple winter protection in the South, 
and there is practically no season 
of the year when there cannot be a 
plenty of green forage, and while the 
cattle in the North are shivering in 
the cold and rooting in the snow for 
sprigs of winter grass, the Southern 
herds may be grazing on green win- 
ter pasture.' The language of Prof. 



162 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



Dodson is explicit. There is no 
doubt but that his claims are well 
founded, that cattle will thrive quite 
as well in this climate as in the 
colder sections, and that the cost of 
raising and care is much in favor of 
the South. 

"It has been clearly demonstrated 
that the dairy is a most valuable ad- 
junct to the cotton plantation. Aside 
from it being one of the most profit- 
able forms of diversified farming, 
the dairy cow is a great restorer of 
fertility to the soil. Prof. T. L. 
Haecker of the University of Minne- 
sota, in an address before the Inter- 
State Farmers' Convention at Vicks- 
burg, Miss., in 1898, spoke as fol- 
lows on the subject of 'How to con- 
tinue cotton growing, utilize the by- 
products on the plantation without 
reducing the income therefrom, and 
at the same time return the fertiliz- 
ing constituents to the soil.' 'I know 
of only one animal,' said Prof. 
Haecker, 'that can fill these require- 
ments, and that is the dairy bred 
cow, and the product butter. If you 
feed the meal and cake to dairy cows, 
all the fertility will remain on the 
plantation and your receipts will be 
twice as large as would be the case 
if this by-product was sold.' 

"The Southern farmer, therefore, 
as these advantages are shown him 
is becoming vastly more interested 
in the dairy business. I know of 
many sections or districts where the 
establishing of one modern dairy, or 
where one farmer started into the 
business intelligently in connection 
with his planting, has resulted m 
starting others, and in some in- 
stances, whole communities have fol- 
lowed in their footsteps, utilizing the 
by-products of their plantation 
through the medium of the cow, thus 
increasing their income and enrich- 
ing their soil. These efforts have 
always been attended with success, 
and it is not difficult to discern in 
communities where dairying is more 
or less engaged in, a happier and 
more prosperous people than where 
the old regime is still in vogue. 
Every State in the South can boast 
of magnificent examples of energy 
and intelligence being applied to the 
upbuilding of this industry with 
splendid results. 

"In most sections of the South, too 



far remote from a city or village 
milk market and where there are no 
creameries, each individual farmer 
has to manufacture his own product, 
which requires more labor and is 
less renumerative as a rule. There 
is a poor demand in the South for 
domestic butter ana very little of it 
is offered for sale in the large cities. 
It is a lamentable fact that tho 
average citizen will place upon his 
table, without question, oleomarger- 
ine and butterine, sold to him for 
butter, rather than demand an ab- 
solutely pure apticle, which is whole- 
some and easily obtained. The 
farmer, therefore, who has to manu- 
facture a pure, wholesome butter — 
for he could not do otherwise, if he 
wanted to — and compete with tallow, 
flavored and colored in imitation 
of pure butter, which costs to man- 
ufacture about one-fourth his pro- 
duct, is handicapped, unless he is 
able to procure a special market, 
which is not always accessible. The 
individual farmer's butter market is 
therefore very limited, and his busi- 
ness is seriously retarded for the 
need of large creameries, cheese fac- 
tories and condenseries operated on 
the proprietary or co-operative plan, 
the latter being the system usually 
adopted in new territory, to make his 
raw product and turn it into a fin- 
ished article in quantity and of uni- 
form quality to suit the demands of 
the market at home and elsewhere. 
The factory system originated in the 
United States in 1861, and has been 
successfully adopted in other coun- 
tries. It is called the 'American Sys- 
tem of Associated Dairying,' and is 
the next step necessary to the ex- 
tensive development of the dairy in- 
dustry in the South. 

"While I cannot claim there is a 
good market for the dairy products 
of the farmer living too remote from 
a city, for a milk trade therein, un- 
less he manufacture a choice article 
of butter which is seldom the case, 
but his fault, as there is no patent on 
making good butter — I do claim that 
we have within certain limits the 
best fresh milk market in the United 
States. Many of the large cities have 
prohibited dairies or the keeping of 
cows within their corporate limits, 
which has revolutionized the city 
milk business in the South, as it did 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7 1900. 



163 



in the North— concentrated it to a 
certain extent and greatly improved 
the quality of the product. This 
improvement, however, cannot be 
credited altogether to the enactment 
and enforcement of municipal laws. 
Individuals and corporations have 
done much, in many instances, to im- 
prove the product by establishing 
modern, sanitary dairies and milk 
depots, equipped with the latest and 
most improved machinery for the 
handling and care of milk, and sell- 
ing it as 'certified' or 'clarified' in 
sealed vessels. The source of dis- 
ease and epidemics is often traced to 
milk, and no subject has interested 
medical science more in the past 
twenty-five years than milk and the 
manner in which it is produced and 
served in the large cities. New Or- 
leans has come in for a good share 
of notoriety recently in this matter. 
The result was the passing of a very 
strict law regulating the operation of 
dairies in the city until they will be- 
compelled to move outside the city 
limits by ordinance which will soon 
be effective, and also providing for a 
very rigid inspection of the milk and 
milk depots, all of which has done 
much good. To the improvement 
thus brought about in the city's milk 
supply is credited to a great extent 
the lessening of sickness and mor- 
talitj r among infants the past sum- 
mer. Many other Southern cities 
have followed New Orleans in her 
war on unclean dairies and question- 
able milk. 

"Eliminating the dairies from the 
cities has built up prosperous dairy 
communities in the country adjacent 
to them, and this form of farming is 
becoming exceedingly popular and 
very profitable. The demand for 
fresh cream in the larger Southern 
cities has never been fully supplied 
by home producers and a very large 
quantity of it is shipped from the 
Northern States in refrigeration. 
Tennessee and Illinois have been sup- 
plying most of the cream to cities in 
the Gulf States, until recently Mis- 
sissippi has come to the front in its 
production. Many of the modern city 
distributors are unable to get suf- 
ficient country milk to supply their 
trade much of the time, and are com- 
pelled to buy more or less Northern 
cream at all times. 



"Therefore, there are many dis- 
tricts in the South, near large cities, 
where intelligent and industrious 
dairy farmers can locate, produce 
milk and cream and receive better 
prices for it from the city distributors 
than in any section that I know of 
in the North or East, with a perma- 
nent demand. I know of no section 
of the United States where better 
prices rule the year around for fresh 
milk and cream than within shipping 
distance of most of the large cities 
of the South. The cost of production 
is less, therefore, the industry pavs 
larger returns here than in other sec- 
tions, if conducted intelligently. 

"But the dairy industry in the 
South, in districts remote from the 
large city milk or cream markets, 
will be seriously retarded until the 
factory system has been inaugurated. 
This will minimize the farmers' la- 
bors and enable him to more readily 
dispose of his product, for which 
tnere will be a stable market at bet- 
ter prices. It will also enable him 
to give more time and attention to 
the care and improvement of his 
herd, which will increase their out- 
put and his income. These facts 
have been established by actual prac- 
tice. The factory, whether it be for 
manufacturing butter, cheese or con- 
densed milk, will find a permanent 
market for its products at its very 
door, as fully 95 per cent, of the fac- 
tory butter, and all the cheese and 
condensed milk, which supplies the 
great South for home consumption 
and export is now manufactured in 
the States north of the Ohio river 
and east of the Allegheny mountains! 

"I wish especially to call the at- 
tention of the manufacturers of these 
products to the opportunities in the 
South. 

"I wish to urge the planters and 
farmers of the South to take greater 
interest in this industry, and to take 
advantage of the superior education 
and training offered by the agricul- 
tural colleges for their children. I 
wish to urge the press of the South 
to continually call the attention of 
the world to the superior advantages 
offered this industry by our glorious 
climate and fertile soil." (Applause.) 

The Convention then adjourned uiv- 
til 7:30 P. M. 



164 



Mi;. litis of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



THURSDAY NIGHT SESSION. 



President Hargrove called the Con- 
vention to order at 8 o'clock, and 
said: Dr. H. E. Stockbridge of Flor- 
ida desires to describe some work of 
the experiment station there. Dr. 



Stockbridge was for three years 
chemist of the Japanese experiment 
station, and his remarks will be both 
interesting and instructive. 




DR. H. E. STOCKBRIDGE, DIRECrOR FLORIDA EXPERIMENT 

STATION. 

CASSAVA AND STARCH IN FLORIDA. 

BY DR. H. E. STOCKBRIDGE, 



Dr. H. E. Stockbridge said: 
"You have been addressed on the 
subject of the agricultural resources 
of the South, but there is one of these 
resources of the South, based on the 
production of a single crop, which is 



not only of great importance to the 
cultivator, but forms the basis of a 
new industry and is therefore associ- 
ated with its industrial development. 
It is so new and of such recent origin 
that it must possess at least a cer- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



165 



tain, interest for those present, and 
it should form part of the record of 
the proceedings of this Convention. 
We are all proud of the wonderful 
growth of the cotton industry dur- 
ing the present decade. It is, per- 
haps, due to many people here pres- 
ent that so much has been accom- 
plished in this direction, but, gentle- 
men, I would call your attention to 
the fact that this great cotton indus- 
try is absolutely dependent on that 
simple, common article, starch, and 
that cotton cloth cannot be econo- 
nomically produced on account of the 
large quantities of starch which en- 
ters into its manufacture, in fact, 
the cotton goods industry is the 
largest single consumer of starch in 
the world. Heretofore, this industry 
has been dependent upon starch from 
Wisconsin and Illinois produced from 
potatoes, etc. 

"To-day, a radical change has 
taken place, and I state that the 
largest cotton factories in the world 
are being exclusively supplied with 
starch produced from a single South- 
ern crop grown in the State of Flor- 
ida. A word now as to the applica- 
tion of that fact: Within the last 
two years, three large factories, with 
an investment of- over $250,000.00, 
have been built in the State of Flor- 
ida for the production of starch 
from the Cassava root, and these 
three factories utilize the entire out- 
put of six thousand acres, which 
have been cultivated for the past 
two years. Droducins: this single crou. 

"Therefore, our cotton industry to- 
day is no loneer dpnendent for thi<5 
product as produced in the Northern 
States, but can get it from native 
Florida product. Let me tell you 
the difference between the values of 
the two different products. A ren- 
resentative of a large concern told 
me that this Southern starch as com- 
pared with the best Northern product 
is as follows: One pound of Florida 
starch went as far as' six pounds of 
the best Northern product, arid furth- 
er, that this Southern product as 
compared with the Northern product 



can be sold at a profit for 4 1-2 cents, 
while the Northern article costs the 
manufacturer 6 1-2 cents. So much 
for the manufacturing side of the 
question, so much for its utilization 
in the manufacture of our great sta- 
ple, cotton. 

"But there is one other side. This 
Cassava root, this raw material from 
the South from which we are mak- 
ing our starch, can only be grown in 
the semi-tropical region of our coun- 
try, and therefore we have an abso- 
lute monopoly of its production. 
Again, aside from its utilization for 
the production of starch, it is one 
of the most valuable food materials 
for animals, of all classes of feed that 
has yet been discovered. A com- 
parison of its fattening value with 
other kinds of feed can be readily 
shown. It produces on a given area 
at about the same cost of produc- 
tion about six times as much food 
as the same area in corn. Actual 
comparative feeding tests show that 
Cassava produces the same results 
in 70 days as 120 days of feeding 
in the great beef producing States 
.of the North would require. In 
other words, 70 days here will do 
what it takes 120 days to do there. 
(Applause.) 

"Further, an actual comparison of 
this material as a source of food for 
all classes of animals for the pur- 
pose of fattening, demonstrates that 
by its use the average steer of the 
Southern States can be put on the 
market with a profit of 48 per cent, 
on the investment. Further than 
that, by the actual placing of the 
meat product from this material on 
the open market with that from Chi- 
cago, we have actually demonstrated 
that we are able to put them on the 
market in competition with the pack- 
ing house products of Chicago and 
have actually driven Swift and Ar- 
mour out of the market. (Applause.) 

"Therefore, we have just arrived 
at the beginning of a great new in- 
dustrv he"re, and its possibilities for 
the future can scarcely be com- 
puted." (Applause.) 



President Hargrove: I now take 
pleasure in introducing to you Gen. 
Leon Jastrem^ki. of Baton Rous:e, 
ex-Consul to Peru, who will address 



you on the subiect of "American 
Trade with the Latin American Coun- 
tries." 



166 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 




GEN. LEON JASTREMSKI. 

AMERICAN TRADE WITH SOUTH AMERICA. 

BY GEN. LEON JASTREMSKI. 



Gen. Leon Jastremski then read 
the following paper: 

"Mr. President and Delegates: 
Though the Continent of South 
America is scarcely more than 1,300 
miles from our Gulf coast, little is 
known in this country of the vast 
extent of its territory, its phenomi- 
nal resources and varied attractions, 
and the possibilities which it pre- 
sents for its development into the 
grandest field for American com- 
merce and American enterprises of 
every character. Only those of our 
people whose official functions or 



special business have led them there 
seem to have anything like a correct 
understanding of South America. 

"I had the honor in 1893 to be sent 
to South America to serve in the 
capacity of United States Consul at 
the port of Callao, Peru, and my 
voyages both ways and the observa- 
tions I made during and since my 
sojourn in Peru, gave me an insight 
into the fairy land that the blind 
greed of some Americans and the 
singular inertia of the mass of the 
American people have virtually 
turned over bodily to the Europeans. 



Held in New Orleans, December 4.-7, ipoo. 



167 



"South America is greater in area 
by 391,000 miles than its twin con- 
tinent of North America. That is 
to say, South America is as large 
as North America with an area as 
great as Texas, Louisiana, Arkan- 
sas and several New England States 
added on. The population of South 
America approximates 50,000,000. 
About 700 miles of its territory lie 
north of the equatorial line, so that, 
counting its territory to the south- 
ward, which may be classed as trop- 
ical, the greater half of the entire 
continent lies in tne zone of the 
tropics, while it presents the inesti- 
mable advantage of possessing in the 
various altitudes climates of all zones 
with their respective productions. 
One may find every kind of climate 
in a few hours of travel, and select 
his dwelling place in that climate 
which suits his fancy, be it the tem- 
perate, tropical or frigid, within the 
area of such brief journey. Every 
product, every mineral, that is found 
in the rest of the world exists in 
South America, and in profusion. If 
there is one continent whose inhab- 
itants may claim that they can live 
within it and lack for nothing that 
mankind craves, tnat continent is 
South America. I must perforce re- 
frain from elaborating, and shall ex- 
pect my hearers to supply with their 
imagination the lack of minute de- 
scriptions within my outlines. 

"The total annual exports of 
South America approximate $450,000,- 
000, of which $93,665,134, principally 
in coffee, came to the United States 
during the last fiscal year. The im- 
ports from the world to South Amer- 
ica approximate $350,000,000, of which 
the United States, for the period 
named, furnished only $38,945,721, 
leaving a balance of trade against 
the United States and in favor of 
South America of $54,689,413. 

"Now, let us make an odious com- 
parison between this actual com- 
merce with South America, which we 
are neither striving to equalize or 
augment, and our commerce with the 
Philippines and with China, for which 
we are doing considerable fighting 
at long range and at no little ex- 
pense. 

"For the year ending June 30, 1900, 

the imports from the Philippines to 

the United States amounted to only 



$5,971,208, while our exports to the 
Philippines amounted to the small 
total of $2,640,449, or $3,330,759 on 
tne losing side of Uncle Sam's ledg- 
er. 

"From the Chinese Empire, for the 
same period, the imports to the 
United States were $26,896,117, and 
the exports from the United States 
to China, $15,258,748. Our transac- 
tions with the Chinese Empire there- 
fore, netted to that empire $11,637,- 
369. 

"Let us see how we are conduct- 
ing business with South America, in 
a peaceable, very peaceable way? 

"Our intercourse with the Pacific 
coast of South America, from the 
Atlantic side, is carried on exclu- 
sively by means of a tri-monthly 
steamship service between New York 
and the Isthmus of Panama. The 
mail route distance of this service 
is set down at 2,355 miles. From 
Panama, the mails and general in- 
tercourse with Guayaquil, Ecuador, 
Callao, Peru, and Valparaiso, Chili, 
is maintained by a weekly steamship 
service by the Pacific Steam Naviga- 
tion Company (English), and the 
Compania Sud Americano de Va- 
pores (Chilian), acting in combina- 
tion. The rates for freights and pas- 
sage are well nigh prohibitive, the 
fare for passage having attained the 
amount of $197 gold, between New 
York and Callao, a distance of 3,- 
500 miles (which is the same distance 
between New York and Liverpool), 
and $254 gold, from New York to 
Valparaiso, 4,800 miles. It should be 
carefully noted that the ten days' 
service on the Atlantic side cannot 
by any possibility connect with the 
weekly service on the Pacific. In 
consequence, there are days of de- 
tention of mails, passengers and 
freights on the Isthmus. The steam- 
ers on the Pacific side get no pay 
for carrying the mails, and they han- 
dle them in the way that people work 
for the public without pay. Fre- 
quent efforts have been made to get 
our postal authorities to organize a 
weekly service from New York that 
would connect with the weekly ser- 
vice at Panama, but for reasons with 
which the public is yet unacquainted 
the same disjointed service has been 
kept up. 



168 



Minutes of The Southern Industiiil Convention 



"A tremendous stride might be 
made toward trade increase in tnose 
parts, if our postal authorities would 
contract for a weekly service be- 
tween some Gulf port and the Isth- 
mus, as the route would be shortened 
about 1,000 miles, and the mails, in- 
stead of having to go from all parts 
of the country to New York, there 
to await the ten days' time of de- 
parture, could go by rail to the Gulf 
port where this weekly service would 
be in operation. A corresponding de- 
crease in the transit time and the 
cost of travel would naturally follow. 

"The distance between San Fran- 
cisco and Panama is nearly 4,000 
miles, and it takes from twenty to 
twenty-five days for the steamships 
of the Pacific Mail Company to make 
the voyage. It has been repeatedly 
charged that an agreement existed 
between the latter company and the 
foreign combination operating south 
of Panama that neither would in- 
fringe upon the preserves of the 
other. In other words, the American 
Pacific Mail Company was to en- 
joy the monopoly of the trade of the 
Central American and Mexican Pa- 
cific coasts, and the English and 
Chilian companies, the monopoly of 
the trade of the entire Pacific coast 
of South America, the latter receiv- 
ing the passengers and freights 
brought to Panama from both oceans 
by the American steamship compan- 
ies. This is tantamount to empty- 
ing into the English and Chilian 
bags, the entire trade of the United 
States centering at Panama. 

"Whether the Isthmian terminal 
and the schedules of these various 
lines are in pursuance of the alleged 
agreement adverted to or not, it is 
an indisputable fact that the condi- 
tions above described exist and that 
they operate practically as a block- 
ade against intercourse with the 
United States. 

"On the arrival at Callao of the 
first vessel of a steamship line navi- 
gating under the British flag be- 
tween New York and the Pacific 
coast of South America, via the 
Straits of Magellan, which had been 
established by an American firm, I 
was asked by a Peruvian to explain 
why an American firm should carry 
on its trade on British ships and 
under the British flag. This was a 



corker, and I told the man to ask 
me something easy, as I did not like 
to tell him that this was one of tne 
American ways of protecting Amer- 
ican commerce. 

"There are lines of English, Ger- 
man and French steamships running 
respectively between their ports and 
this coast via the Magellan Straits 
and, recently, a Japanese line has 
been started between Japan and 
Peru. 

"These facts, briefly stated, show 
why American commerce cuts so poor 
a figure in the countries referred to, 
although they are some thousands 
of miles nearer to our ports than to 
Europe or Japan. 

"The total population of the Pa- 
cific coi>st countries of South Amer- 
ica, namely, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, 
Bolivia and Chili, in round num- 
bers, approximates 15,000,000. Their 
total exports approximate annually 
$115,000,000, and their imports $95,- 
000,000. For the year ending June 
30, 1900, their exports to the United 
States footed up only $15,035,921, and 
their imports from the United States 
$8,935,754. 

In further illustration of the in- 
adequacy of the means of communi- 
cation between this country and the 
Continent of South America, I would 
invite your attention to the follow- 
ing United States Mail Schedules., 
viz: 

New York to Liverpool, 3,530 miles, 
time 8 days. 

New York to Panama, 2,355 miles, 
time 7 days. 

New York to Rio Janeiro, 6,204 
miles, time 23 days. 

New York to Buenos Ayres, 8,045 
miles, time 29 days. 

New York to Valparaiso, 4,800 
miles, time 37 days. 

The usual surest and quickest way 
of going from New York to Rio de 
Janeiro and to Buenos Ayres is to 
cross the Atlantic to some promi- 
nent European port where departures 
are regular, thence to recross the 
Atlantic on the European steamers 
plying between Europe and the Bra- 
zilian and Argentine ports. Most of 
the direct trade between these ports 
and the United States is, generally 
speaking, carried on at irregular in- 
tervals, by tramp steamers. 
"It is commonly asserted that the 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-/, 1900. 



169 



principal opposition to the Nicaragua 
Canal, by which much of the ex- 
isting embargo would be removed, 
is made by the directories of our 
Pacific railroads, who have endeav- 
ored to carry the trade of the entire 
country by rail first to San Fran- 
cisco, distant some 3,250 miles from 
New York, thence by means of the 
Pacific Mail steamers, 4,000 miles 
farther, to Panama, for reshipment 
on the steamers of the foreign com- 
bination described in the foregoing. 
"This policy is in harmony with 
the seven by ten schedules at Pana- 
ma, and it only needs the erection 
of a plant at the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi designed to force its waters 
into the Northern lakes to make our 
commercial intercourse with South 
America a colossal absurdity. 

The Inter-Continental Railway. 

"On the 21st of January, 1880, Hon. 
David Davis, of Illinois, introduced 
a bill in the United States Senate to 
encourage closer commercial rela- 
tionship between the United States, 
Mexico, Central and South America, 
in which the first suggestion in 
congressional legislation is to be 
found 'to carry forward the worK of 
constructing a through line of rail- 
road running at the foot of the east- 
ern slope of the Andes.' Bills to 
the same purport were introduced on 
April 24th, 1882, by Senator Cockrell, 
of Missouri and by Senator Morgan, 
of Alabama, 'The Grand Old Man' 
who has immortalized his name by 
his incessant and inflexible advo- 
cacy of the Nicaragua Canal. On 
December 11, 1883, Senator Sherman, 
of Ohio, tendered the bill that had 
been proposed the year before by 
Senator Morgan. 

"On the 6th of May, 1886, Mr. Frye, 
of Maine, reported the bill which was 
finally passed on May 10, 1888, au- 
thorizing the formation of the inter- 
national conference which was or- 
ganized at Washington, on October 
2nd, 1889, with representatives of the 
following countries, viz: Bolivia, 
Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Guate- 
mala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, 
Peru, Salvador, The United States, 
Uruguay and Ve^ez ela On February 
26, 1890, the report of the special com- 
mittee recommending the prelimin- 



ary survey of an intercontinental 
railway was adopted by the confer- 
ence then composed of the represen- 
tatives of eighteen governments. 

"On May 12th, 1890, Secretary Blaine 
in submitting this report to President 
Harrison thus expressed himself: 

" 'No more important recommenda- 
tion has come from the international 
American conference, and I earnestly 
commend it to your attention, with 
full confidence that prompt action 
will be taken by Congress to enable 
this government to participate in the 
promotion of the enterprise.' In 
his message a week later, President 
Harrison, in recommending favorable 
action, called attention to the puo- 
sibility of traveling by land from 
Washington to the southernmost 
capital of South America. '±he 
work contemplated,' he said 'is vast 
but entirely practicable.' 

"In addressing the Intercontinen- 
tal Railway Commission, on Dec. 4, 
1890, Secretary Blaine said: 

" 'Gentlemen: I hope that this 4th 
day of December, 1890, is to mark the 
beginning, the auspicious beginning, 
of a very great enterprise, that shall 
draw closer South America, Central 
America and North America; that 
shall cement in closer and more cor- 
dial ties many nations and be a ben- 
efit to the present generation and to 
millions yet unborn.' 

"Hon. A. J. Cassatt was made 
president of the commission, and 
three surveying corps were formed as 
follows: 1st corps, M. M. Macomb in 
charge; 2nd corps, F. Shunk in 
charge; 3rd corps, W. D. Kelley in 
charge. The various corps set out in 
April, 1891, and in June/ 1893, corns 
No. 2, the last one to finish their 
work, returned to the United States. 
"The total cost of the surveys 
amounted to $288,586.01. This in- 
cluded the printing • of the reports. 
This distance from New York to 
Buenos Ayres was put down at 10,- 
228 miles, of which 4,771 miles had 
already been constructed, leaving 
5,456 miles to be built. The total 
cost for grading, masonry and 
bridges was estimated at $174,290,271. 
In their final report the commission 
said: 'We will have a total of about 
$175,000,000 for the 5,456 miles to be 
built in order to complete an all- 
rail route between New York and 



170 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



Buenos Ayres. It is highly probable 
that future studies will reduce the 
length and lessen the cost stated.' 

"To give some idea of the riches 
that would be opened to exploitation 
by the construction of the intercon- 
tinental railway, I have culled the 
following notes from the reports of 
corps 2 and 3, viz: 

(Referring to Peru.) 

" 'The richest silver ores mined 
here, (Huallana) which is also very 
rich coal and mineral district, reach 
as high as $1,000 per ton in value, 
while these assaying under $30 per 
ton are not worked, being thrown on 
the dump.' 

"Referring to the Rio Santa and 
the Callejon de Huailas, the report 
says: 'This difficult stretch is, how- 
ever, compensated for by the fact 
that it is the richest mineral section 
of Peru, containing gold, silver, lead, 
iron, and coal, in large quantities, 
many of the mines being in active 
operation.' 

" 'In case the Maranon route were 
adopted, water communication could 
be had at Jaen or Buena Vista with 
the Amazon and the Atlantic' 

" 'At Ancachs, a very fine grade 
of statuary marble is opened up.' 

" 'Iron work would be expensive 
to deliver from the coast along the 
line, but by some outlay of capital 
and enterprises, furnaces could be put 
in operation at various points where 
ore and limestone exist. Charcoal 
could be produced from the forests of 
the Eastern Montana.' 

" 'It is not improbable that the 
volcanic formations and lavas would 
yield a Roman cement.' 

" 'Peru, although extending to 18 
degrees south latitude, possesses like 
Ecuador, such differences of alti- 
tude as to enable it to produce vege- 
table life peculiar to every clime." 

" 'While at the agreeable altitude 
from 6,000 to 9,000 feet, we find a 
climate acceptable to the people of 
the temperate zone, and one can in 
a few hours' mule journey take a 
trip either to the tropics or the arc- 
tics. One hacienda or farm, near 
Caroz, yielded every crop from sugar 
cane and bananas to perpetual ice, 
which was brought down from the 
high mountains by Indians twice a 
week for household use.' 



" 'On the plateau, the temperature 
ranging from 40 degrees to 70 degrees 
Fahr. the year round, the season is 
one of perpetual spring; crops are 
planted and harvested at the same 
time.' 

" 'The mines, consisting of gold, 
silver, quicksilver, lead, copper, tin 
and iron, are numerous in these lo- 
calities.' 

" 'The streams of the eastern slopes 
of the mountains are especially rich 
in auriferous sands and indicate that 
somewhere at their sources must ex- 
ist rich ores, which are thus being 
washed away.' 

" 'In Peru, it is estimated that $1,- 
800,000,000 worth of precious metals, 
principally silver, have been mined 
since 1630.' 

" 'Columbia is rich in minerals of 
all kinds, gold, silver, iron, coal, pe- 
troleum, lead, mercury, amber, lime, 
gypsum, marble, saltpetre, salt, as- 
phaltum, alum, and kaelin, being 
found in profusion. The yearly out- 
put of gold and silver is over $4,000,- 
000 in value. Emeralds, rubies, gar- 
nets, amethysts and other precious 
stones are also found. Colombia has 
an area of 514,000 square miles, 
(twice the size of Texas). 

" 'The soil of Colombia is very fer- 
tile, and the vegetation is rich and 
exuberant. Coffee, cacao, tobacco, 
sugar, vegetable ivory, rubber, and 
dye woods, are produced besides 
wheat, maize, plantains, etc. The 
total number of cattle, horses, mules 
and asses in the republic is estimated 
at 3,465,000 in addition to 3,487,000 
goats, sheep and swine.' 

" 'The Amazon has a length of 
4,139 miles, 500 of which are naviga- 
ble by large vessels.' 

" 'In this department (Cauca), 
nature is rich beyond reasonable ex- 
pectation. The mineral resources are 
both abundant and varied, the Cuaca 
competing with Antioquia in the 
wealth of its precious metals. Gold 
ore of excellent quality is abundant. 
The soil is exceedingly fertile and 
produces almost spontaneously sugar 
cane, plantains, maize, potatoes and 
all kinds of vegetables. In the for- 
ests are found large quantities of 
wood suitable for building, cabinet 
work, and dye purposes.' 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 



171 



"Ecuador. 
"Ecuador presents the same fea- 
tures and riches which have been de- 
scribed for Colombia and Peru. 

"Bolivia. 

"Bolivia, that is, its vast table 
lands, have been compared to the 
Thibet. These are generally cold 
and, save in the valleys which are 
very fertile, the elevated plains and 
mountain slopes are principally de- 
voted to mining. 

" 'According to the official records 
of the Spanish Government, during 
the period of two hundred and eighty 
years intervening between 1545 and 
1825, the mines of Bolivia produced 
the enormous amount of $3,406,366,- 
035 worth of silver.' 

(From the Report of Bureau of 
American Republics.) 

" 'Bordering on the Purus River, 
and spreading over the districts of 
the Mapori and Tipuanl to the west 
and the river districts of the Beul 
to the east, and on down through the 
rich province of Yungas to the south, 
are the finest tropical forests within 
the Amazon basin, containing in all 
sixty-five kinds of rare and beautiful 
cabinet woods of prodigious growth 
and great commercial value. In the 
warm valleys of Mapiri and Yungas, 
and especially in the latter, grew 
enormous quantities of tropical 
fruits,' sugar cane, rice, coffee, coca, 
cacao, tobacco, and aromatic gums 
and spices, while skirting the banks 
of the Itenez or Guapore, the Beni, 
Madre de Dios and the Purus rivers, 
are the great rubber forests where is 
produced the finest 'Para rubber' 
known to the trade.' 

" 'Although the northern and 
northeastern territory of Bolivia, here 
denominated 'the Beni country,' is by 
common consent 'a land flowing with 
milk and honey, whose inhabitants, 
according to George Earl Church, 
'gaze upon a wealth sufficient to pay 
the national debts of the world,' it 
is for the most part as little known 
as 'Darkest Africa,' and under present 
conditions, its vast natural wealth 
is even less available.' 

"The several surveying corps re- 
ported that they were received every- 



where with marked cordiality by all 
classes of the population and by the 
officials. They received assistance 
from every quarter in the prosecution 
of their work, and manifestations of 
approval of the undertaking were 
everywhere elicited. No room was 
left for doubt in the readiness of the 
various governments to grant liberal 
concessions and valuable privileges 
to the project and to an extent that 
would by far exceed the cost of its 
complete achievement. A substan- 
tial proof of this feeling was given 
not long ago by the Peruvian Gov- 
ernment. In granting munificent 
concessions and privileges to the pro- 
jected line from Cherrepe to Hual- 
gayoc, where rich mines of coal, and 
of well nigh every other mineral 
will be developed, the Peruvian Gov- 
ernment excepted from the grant the 
intercontinental railway to which the 
right of intersecting, etc., was to be 
freely accorded. One mile of land 
on each side of the line referred to 
was donated, and the inference fol- 
lows that no less than this would be 
voted to the intercontinental road. 

"The first step that the United 
States Government should take in 
this matter, ought to be the forma- 
tion of a special commission to se- 
cure concessions and privileges for 
the intercontinental road, and to ar- 
range the representation which each 
republic should have in the directory 
of the road. Thereupon, the United 
States Government should provide 
for an issue of bonds bearing 2 1/2 
or 3 per cent interest to the amount 
of $350,000,000, which would amply 
suffice to complete the road and to 
fully equip it for first class opera- 
tion. Our Pacific railways have dem- 
onstrated the phenomenal results 
that can be expected from an under- 
taking of this character, and they 
have also shown that the credits 
loaned to these roads have been re- 
paid or will be repaid to the last dol- 
lar. The October statement issued 
by Secretary Gage shows that the 
amount which had been reimbursed 
to the Government by the Pacific 
roads, was $64,751,223.75, and that the 
total balance due for principal and 
interest, was $52,150,376.94. From 
1893 to 1898, inclusively, 14,832 miles 
of railway were built in the United 



172 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



States, and in 1893, 4, 897 miles were 
constructed. This indicates that the 
5,456 miles of railway required for 
the intercontinental line, could be 
easily completed and the road fully 
equipped in. much less time than 
three years. 

"The construction of the intercon- 
tinental railway will throw open to 
the enterprising and adventurous 
spirits in this country and in the 
rest of the world, gold fields as rich 
as those of Alaska or of South Afri- 
ca. It will give access to the Ama- 
zonian regions which abound with a 
greater variety of riches and re- 
sources than any other on earth. It 
would create important ports and 
commercial distributing points at the 
head waters of the wondrous Amazon 
and its numerous tributaries, which 
are navigable to within less than 
two hundred miles from the Pacific 
ocean. Its branches would soon give 
rail communication with every coun- 
try in South America and from 
ocean to ocean. It would inaugurate 
a system of river navigation four or 
five times greater than was ever seen 
on the Mississippi and its tributaries. 
It would impart social, industrial and 
commercial life to a veritable won- 
derland, whose wasting riches would 
contribute beyond conception to the 
well being of mankind. It would set 
from its inception into feverish and 
continuous activity, the rolling mills, 
the machine shops, the manufactures 
and the commerce of this country, 
to an extent never before equaled, 
and it would relieve the congestion 
that is caused in many parts of this 
country, by innumerable people 
whose skill and capacity to produce 
in all lines, cannot be adequately em- 
ployed. 

"The Argentine Republic is making 
prodigious strides. It is producing 
grains, meats, hides, wool, and in 
fact, all the products of the temper- 
ate zones, in quantities which are 
affecting more and more the markets 
of the world. It is adding the man- 
ufacturing to its agricultural and pas- 
toral industries, and its vast territory 
which is considerably larger than a 
third of the United States, is being 
gridironed with railroads. One of its 
trunk lines, if it has not already pen- 
etrated into Bolivia, is rapidly ap- 
proaching the frontier of that coun- 



try. In 1899, while the immigration 
to Canada and the United States was 
reckoned at 514,207, it attained in the 
Argentine Republic the enormous 
number of 1,200,000. Its capital, 
whose population is nearing the mil- 
lion mark, has gained the appellation 
of 'The Paris of South America.' A 
decade attended witn a, continuation 
of this flow of immigration will bring 
the Argentine to the rank of a great 
and powerful nation, and if the 
United States has not by the end of 
that time completed the intercontin- 
ental railway, and planted its com- 
merce in the heart of South America, 
Argentina will then move for- 
ward from the South toward the 
North and reap the fruits that the 
United States should enjoy. 

"The intercontinental railway is 
the companion piece of the Nicara- 
gua canal, and the hour has come 
when both enterprises should be pro- 
secuted by the American people, with 
all the energy and swiftness which 
they are capable of displaying. 

"I do not think that I could give 
a more fitting conclusion to my re- 
marks than by reading to you this 
prophesy which is found in Hon. 
James Bryce's renowned work, 'The 
American Commonwealth:' 

" 'The fate of Western South Amer- 
ica belongs to a still more distant 
future, but it can hardly remain un- 
connected with what is already by 
far the greatest power in the Western 
Hemisphere. When capital, which 
is accumulating in the United States 
with extraordinary rapidity, is no 
longer able to find highly profitable 
employment in the development of 
Western North America, it will tend 
to seek other fields. When popula- 
tion has filled up the present terri- 
tory of the United States, enterpris- 
ing spirits will overflow into unde- 
veloped regions. The nearest of 
these is Western South America, the 
elevated plateaus of which are habit- 
able by northern races. It may be 
conjectured that the relations of the 
vast territories in Ecuador, Peru and 
Bolivia, for which the Spaniards have 
done so little, and which can hardly 
remain forever neglected, will one 
day become far closer with the 
United States than with any Eu- 
ropean power.' " (Applause.) 



Held in New Orlca;:s y December 4-7, ipoo. 



173 




COTTON MANUFACTURING AND ITS RELATION TO 
THE INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS OE THE SOUTH. 



BY W. B. SMITH WHALBY. 



President Hargrove: The greatest 
product of the world to-day is cotton. 
Mr. Whaley is the expert of the 
South. He is now running eight cot- 
ton factories and building nine 
others. He is president of three of 
these institutions. I have the pleas- 
ure of presenting to you the Hon. 
W. B. Smith Whaley. 

Hon. W. B. Smith Whaley then rea 1 
the following paper on "Cotton 
Manufacturing and its Relations to 



the Industrial Progress of the 
South:" 

"Mr. President and Gentlemen: 
There is no subject of greater inter- 
est to all of us than the industrial 
development of our country, and the 
necessary facilities and factors for 
accomplishing this result should al- 
ways demand our best energies and 
efforts. 

"The history of the South for the 
last thirty years has been a contin- 



174 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



uous struggle for industrial prestige, 
and although for years apparently 
slow, still in those years her progress 
has been steady, and the foundation 
for her future firmly laid. Without 
imposing on your time to rehearse 
history too well known, I will simply 
detain you long enough to briefly call 
your attention to the necessary steps 
in the progress of civilization, though 
at the time they may not be appre- 
ciated, yet through the allwise guid- 
ance of Providence, these often ap- 
parent hardships are necessary to 
prepare the way for future benefits. 
The ante-bellum institution of slav- 
ery was not conducive to industrial 
progress, and never in the history 
of the world has this been the case, 
and it is often said that 'history re- 
peats itself.' 

"That institution, so dear to the 
memories of our sires, cost the lives 
of our loved ones in its overthrow, 
leaving many void places and aching 
hearts, both in the North and the 
South, and created what seemed to 
be at that time a wide gap between 
the two sections of our country. That 
struggle, although costly, was the 
leaven working its' way for the fu- 
ture prosperity of the South, and 
quoting Alexander Hamilton Stevens 
in the closing of his memorable 
speech on the 'Future of the South' 
before the Legislature of Georgia, on 
Feb. 22nd, 1886, 'with peace, com- 
merce and honest friendship with all 
nations, and with entangled alliances 
with none, we may add greater 
achievements than hitherto, exciting 
the wonder of the world.' The his- 
tory of the country since that speech 
was made has quietly borne out the 
assertion. 

"With a stolid determination, the 
people of the South went to work to 
regain their past business prestige, 
and then and there the solid founda- 
tions for her industrial progress was 
established. Gradually she began to 
gather strength, and slowly the 
value of her institutions began to as- 
sert themselves. Her commercial in- 
terests were mainly the product of 
her soil, which was both genial and 
fertile. Her greatest and most valu- 
able product was that of cotton; her 
fields easily supplied the ever in- 
creasing demands of the world, and 



gradually the crops increased to 
double and treble their former pro- 
portions. In this time, her export 
cities were doing all the practical 
industrial work of the country. They 
were the established centres of ac- 
tivity to which the interior paid tri- 
bute and drew their support from 
the farm products of the land and 
in return furnished them with sup- 
plies. To-day we see an entirely dif- 
ferent state of affairs. Gradually 
transportation lines, both in steam- 
ship and railways, began to offer in- 
creasing facilities for the rapid hand- 
ling of her products, and slowly her 
ports began to feel the baneful ef- 
fects of steadily shrinking business. 
As slowly as the interior felt the 
benefits of the better facilities and 
greater industrial activity, they 
availed themselves of these new op- 
portunities which gradually reached 
a point where speculation was lia- 
ble, to do much damage. There came 
the usual period known as the 'boom- 
time' in many sections; towns were 
built and projected; money was 
spent and little returns made; a dis- 
couraging state of affairs existed, 
throwing rather a damper on other 
industrial progress until means of 
producing satisfactory returns could 
be made and established. In rehears- 
ing the history of the value and im- 
portance of the product cotton, which 
was so abundantly raised in our 
country, history only repeats itself. 
And here lies the true secret of the 
South's valuable industrial growth; 
there is no branch of the manufac- 
turing business that surrounds it- 
self with more necessary industrial 
requirements than the art of the 
manufacturing of cotton. It collects 
people into communities, enlarges 
their learning, fosters smaller en- 
terprises and trades, and brings into 
play all the faculties and intellectual 
developments bearing on the arts and 
sciences. 

"In the day of Heroditus 445 B. C., 
in the industrial centres of the far 
east, cotton was spun and woven. 
It existed in Egypt in the days of her 
greatest prosperity, 1700 years B. C. 
The Chinese, considered to be the 
earliest of enlightened people, used 
it in the ninth century. The Aztecs 
of Mexico, the most civilized people 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



175 



of the Western nations of the old 
times, spun and wove cotton. It was 
manufactured in Spain in the 10th 
century at the time of her greatest 
industrial activity and most pro- 
gressive period. We read that Cordo- 
va, Granada and Seville became, upon 
the introduction of cotton manufac- 
turing, thriving centres. Capmany, 
the historian, writes, that at that per- 
iod, among the various trades which 
anciently distinguished Barcelona, 
one of the most famous and useful 
was that of the cotton manufacturers 
who were incorporated as a company 
from the thirteenth century. These 
facts established the value of the cot- 
ton industry in the past as an indus- 
rial promotor. 

"The manufacturing centres of 
England were given their true impe- 
tus upon the introduction of the art 
of spinning and the bee hives of in- 
dustry grew as they had never grown 
before. In 1641, the date of the in- 
troduction of cotton manufacturing 
at Manchester, there existed there a 
few small industries, and we read 
shortly afterwards that in twenty 
years the benefits arising from this 
branch of industry, namely, cotton 
manufacturing, enabled the mer- 
chants of Manchester to spend large 
sums in extending their property, 
building up their homes and enlarg- 
ing the industrial area of the town 
to several thousand houses more 
than it had in the past. In New Eng- 
land, starting with the old Slater 
mill, in about 1787, gradually there 
sprung up Lowell, Lawrence, Man- 
chester, Fall River, Providence and 
other well known manufacturing cen- 
tres all from the one cause, the man- 
ufacturing of cotton. 

"Now, turning back to our own re- 
gion a short while, we find in the 
memorable speech of Henry W. 
Grady, in Boston, which cost him his 
life, a reference in his 'New Souih' 
to her advantages, among which he 
enumerates cotton as one of the 
most useful factors. He states that 
three things may be regarded as of 
primary importance in the successful 
prosecution of manufacturing, name- 
ly: water power, fuel and iron.' All 
these we have, together with the raw 
cotton. 

"There existed in the South before 



the war a few small mills, the indus- 
trial effects of which were felt even 
at that time. In the early eighties, 
Southern mnaufacturing of cotton 
goods began to take a permanent 
and lasting shape. Heavily handi- 
capped, and, with much hard work, 
many of her best establishments in 
this line were built; the result was 
that an increasing industrial activity 
sprang up around them. The de- 
mand for the artisan was created; 
a better value for farm products 
was made; increasing values at- 
tached themselves to the surround- 
ing country and these things have- 
been repeated in every instance of 
the founding and development of 
this industry since that period. The 
price of the labor supplied many, 
other necessities and created a de- 
mand for the products of the arti- 
san; the farmer sold his eggs, but- 
ter, cheese and vegetables to bet- 
ter advantage; the communities de- 
manded the advantages of civiliza- 
tion, such as sewerage, water works",, 
lights and transportation; in other 
words, the butcher, the baker, and 
the candle maker, as well as the 
market providers, had a demand for 
their wares, a demand that did not 
consist of swapping dollars from ott^F" 
pocket to the other, but generally 
of absorbing locally the stream of 
money which came to the wage earn- 
er annually. These are the prime 
factors in a successful industrial de- 
velopment. Many people in the 
South were discouraged and were 
investing their money in other sec- 
tions, leaving their homes and seek- 
ing occupation elsewhere, but under 
the new condition of affairs created 
simply by the establishment of a 
cotton mill, the tide was changed. 
Many instances can be noted such 
as this. 

"The motives which principally led 
to the establishment of these mills 
were more selfish than otherwise. 
It was found that the congenial cli- 
mate, the abundant supply of food 
and building materials were advan- 
tages to the investor, and while the 
industrial progress was slow, yet the 
gains in returns were large enough 
to induce continued investment in 
these lines. The introduction of a 
cotton factory in every hamlet or 



176 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



our country, if it never paid in the 
smallest dividends directly, creates 
an industrial feature which pays 
many times larger indirectly, and 
measured from the wage earning ■ 
stand point alone would more than 
pay the local investors. 

"Reviewing briefly the value of 
crops in the last twenty years, we 
can form some idea as to what the 
South would have gained if only the 
value of the labor could have been 
retained, to say nothing of the value 
of the raw product. 

"In 1850 to 1851, sixty thousand 
(60,000') bales of five hundred pounds 
each were spun in the South out of 
a crop of two million four hundred 
fifteen thousand (2,415,000) bales. 
In the ten years between 1850 and 
I860, an average of one hundred 
and 'forty-nine thousand five hundred 
(149,500) bales per annum were man- 
ufactured in the Southern States out 
of an average crop in that period of 
three million three hundred ninety- 
one thousand (3,391,000) bales. The 
labor value on this product alone, at 
five cents per pound, was eighty- 
four million seven hundred seventy- 
seven thousand five hundred dol- 
lars ($84,777,500) per annum; the 
amount credited to the South on 
account of the cotton manufactured 
at home was only three million three 
hundred thirty-seven thousand five 
hundred dollars ($3,337,500) cr 
eighty-one million forty thousand 
dollars (81,040,000) fed and clothed 
many people in other parts of the 
globe. 

In 1880 and 1881, the crop of six 
million six hundred six thousand (6,- 
606,000) bales was made, the labor 
value of which at five cents per 
'pound was one hundred sixty-five 
million one hundred fifty thousand 
dollars ($165,150,000) of which two 
hundred twenty-five thousand (225,- 
000) bales only was manufactured in 
the South, and five million six hun- 
dred twenty-five thousand dollars 
($5,625,000) was all of the labor value 
of that crop that was retained at 
home. In the next ten years the 
"90 to '91 crop for example, the 
South's increase was much larger. 
Out of a crop of eight million six 
hundred seventy-four thousand (8,- 
674,000) the South consumed six hun- 
dred thirteen thousand (613,000) 



bales; the labor value of the crop 
was two hundred sixteen million 
eight hundred fifty thousand dollars 
($216,850,000.00) the South retaining 
only fifteen million three hundred 
twenty-five thousand dollars ($15,- 
325,000.00). In 1898 and 1899, a crop 
of 11,216,000 was produced, the South 
consumed 1,254,000 bales, the labor 
value of the crop was $280,400,000, 
the South's portion being $31,350,- 
000.00. 

"It can be readily seen from the 
above that the value of labor used 
in manufacturing cotton in the South 
is largely increasing each year the 
wealth of the country, surrounding 
it was the means of maintaining a 
substantial industrial development 
commensurate with the demands of 
civilization, and conferring upon its 
people those comforts and benefits 
that congregating in communities 
permits, and surrounds them with 
more comfort, more schools and 
other institutions of learning which 
have always been among the most 
lasting benefits of successful indus- 
trial development. (Applause.) 

Secretary Thompson: I now pre- 
sent the following report by the 
Committee on Cotton Manufacturing 
in the South: 

Resolved, 1st, That cotton manu- 
facturing augments the wealth of 
the South by creating a labor value 
in addition to the value of the sta- 
ple, increasing the demand for both, 
promotes industrial developments, 
and elevates the communities in 
which the mills are established. 

2nd, We do hereby express as the 
sense of this association that con- 
tinued increase in the number of 
cotton mills in the Southern States 
will operate to their advantage, and 
increased wealth. 

3rd, That a committee consisting 
of one member from each State be 
appointed to report at the next meet- 
ing of the convention, to plan for 
the memorializing of congress for 
such legislation as will offer privil- 
eges in the markets of the world to 
American manufacturers of cotton 
goods, equal to the benefits enjoyed 
by other nations. 

The report was adopted. 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 177 

NEW OELEAXS AS A REAL ESTATE CEXTER, 

BY W. C. H. ROBINSON. 



Mr. W. C. H. Robinson (of New Or- 
leans) then read the following paper 
on "New Orleans as a Real Estate 
Center:" 

i 

"Mr. President: The subject 
which I have been given to discuss 
before this convention is one of the 
most comprehensive that could have 
been named. Real Estate is the ba- 
sis of all investment. All other in- 
terests grow out of and are depend- 
ent upon it. Manufacturing when 
undertaken, looks first to the selec- 
tion of a site and then depends on 
the products of the earth for its ma- 
terial and equipment. On the other 
hand, real estate depends for its im- 
provement on the development of 
manufacturing and other industries. 
The more of the latter there is, the 
greater the price of real estate. 

"There is certainly no interest 
which has reason to look with glad- 
ness on the revival and progress of 
manufacturing and' general industry 
in this State and city more than the 
real estate interest, because what we 
need is to sell our land and to cause 
miles of new streets to rise up, is 
manufacturing, and therefore owners 
and dealers alike and the public in 
general have all an interest in the 
work of this convention and greet 
with pleasure the progress of this 
great movement to lift up the in- 
dustries of the South. There is no 
investment which for the poor and 
rich is safer nor more profitable than 
putting money into realty, because, 
when judiciously bought and proper- 
ly handled, it is impossible to fail 
of results, and it cannot depreciate 
to such an extent that it will not 
regain its value when there is such 
a general movement in the line of 
progress as is now seen in this coun- 
try, and which it is the aim of this 
convention to foster. 

"Of course, there are degrees of 
prosperity in real estate as in other 
things, and the South has had a 
period of depression in that line for 
several years, the result of which has 
been that the price has gone down 
to about the lowest ebb and nobody 



has been willing to part with prop- 
erty, unless necessary, while those 
having money to invest and an eye 
to the main chance, have been en- 
abled to secure at a nominal figure 
realty, which in the rising tide of 
business will net them a handsome 
profit on their investments. 
An industrial paper says: 

"Why the South is Thankful. 

" 'In mill building, in opening 
mines, in railroad extension, in lum- 
ber, in activity of domestic trade 
and in enlargement of foreign com- 
merce the South has a gratifying- 
record during the past twelve 
months. For that it is thankful. 
This feeling is intensified as, with 
the promise of stability in national 
affairs, the South calmly and rea- 
sonably faces the future, for it has 
the prospect of a year's income of 
at least $2,750,000,000. This is to be 
derived as follows: 

" 'From the cotton plant, includ- 
ing the manufactures of the staple, 
and the products of the seed, $750,- 
000,000. 

" 'From corn, wheat, sugar, rice, . 
tobacco and other agricultural pro- 
ducts, $500,000,000. 

" 'From the mines, including about 
50,000,000 tons of coal, and from 
manufactures of iron and other raw 
material, not including cotton $1 - 
500,000,000. 

" 'Here is a broad prospect, which 
may be filled in with many interest- 
ing details. In itself it is sufficient 
to indicate that the South, as an 
important part of a great country 
now entering upon a larger financial, 
industrial and commercial career, 
has a vital interest in the country's 
prosperity and is prepared to enjoy 
its share of the good things of 
America. 

" 'Like everything else, real es- 
tate thrives in proportion to the de- 
gree of civilization that exists and 
the increase and centralization of 
population, and the establishment of 
good laws, insuring ample protec- 
tion, not only to life and comfort, 



178 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention 



but as well to property interests and 
the carrying on of industrial enter- 
prises. Laws which encourage the 
establishment of large manufactur- 
ing interests and secure the men who 
invest the money, bring those estab- 
lishments, and those establishments 
in turn cause the erection of houses 
for the homes of the operatives, 
either owned by them or rented to 
them, and the business which com- 
mercial people secure by supplying 
necessities to the people who live in 
those homes enables them in turn to 
establish homes and build sub- 
stantial business structures which 
are an ornament to the community, 
and all this property pays the taxes 
which enables the city to build 
streets and erect public buildings 
and schools and establish water sup- 
plies and lighting plants, and em- 
ploy the guardians of the public in 
the form of police and firemen. 

"In those parts of the country 
where these things have been carried 
to the greatest perfection the price 
of realty has become the greatest and 
the more fixed, for people will not 
make homes where they are not as- 
sured of these modern necessities. 

"Where the capitalist or the home- 
seeker knows that there is indus- 
trial development which assures the 
continued employment of labor and 
the consequent means of keeping up 
his revenue or paying for his home 
is the place where money will be in- 
vested and the people will go to live. 

"Just at this time there is no place 
in the United States which has 
opened to the vision of the capitalist 
or the home seeker a vista down 
which may be seen such a splendid 
prospect of future greatness, happi- 
ness and prosperity, as the State of 
Louisiana and the City of New Or- 
leans. The State has always been 
noted for the fertility of its soil and 
the large returns which come to the 
planter of sugar and rice and cot- 
ton and of fruits and vegetables, and 
the prosperity and happiness and 
generosity of her citizens have be- 
come proverbial, and the wealth of 
her large planters has even been ex- 
aggerated until they have acquired 
the reputation of being princes, liv- 
ing in palaces and reveling in splen- 
dor. And this has been to a degree 
true, and while the depression that 



has for some years checked the 
spread and concentration of popula- 
tion throughout the South, the mar- 
velous fertility of the soil remains, 
and the generous hospitality remains, 
and the vast timber resources are 
just being developed, and Louisiana 
to-day has more to offer to the man 
who desires to make his home in a 
goodly land than any place that the 
most ardent seeker can locate. One 
of the greatest advantages here is the 
genial climate, which never freezes 
nor roasts the dwellers, and where 
the summer breezes from the wide 
areas of sea and lake and river are 
wafted throughout the interior, 
making it a pleasant resort all the 
year round, for in winter it is sel- 
dom cold enough to cause suffering, 
and the cold spells are short. There- 
fore, it is plain to see that Louisiana 
and contiguous States are destined 
to support a teeming population 
which will ever grow and thrive 
under its sunny skies, where the 
poor who seek to avoid the hard win- 
ters of the North and the Northwest 
can come and establish their homes, 
safe from the blizzard and the cy- 
clone, and with no danger of those 
terrible droughts which strike terror 
into the hearts of dwellers in the 
wintry regions. 

"As the State grows in population, 
as she will with the advent of the 
manufacturing industries which are 
already beginning to pour their 
thousands of new people into her 
borders, she will become one of the 
wealthiest in the world, and internal 
improvements will equal those of 
any region known. Her vast un- 
drained lands will be placed under 
cultivation and will furnish homes 
for added thousands. 

"But the center of all this develop- 
ment and prosperity and progress 
is New Orleans. Through this port 
the business of all this prosperous 
region must come to the sea, and 
here will be established the vast 
manufacturing concerns which will 
employ the thousands of people who 
will create a market for the surplus of 
production which is not sent over the 
seas, and who will make this a city 
of imperial proportions when the 
vast area between the river and the 
lake shall have all been redeemed 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



179 



from the swamp and builded with 
houses and paved streets. In the old 
times the city was not illy built, but 
the people neglected the paving of 
streets, the establishment of sewers 
and such things, and we of the pres- 
ent have just begun and are pushing 
rapidly the things which should 
have been here long ago. We have 
been behind, but we are not going to 
stay there. Miles of splendid drain- 
age canals, built on the most mod- 
ern plans and established with one 
of the most superb pumping stations 
and power houses in the country, 
have already been put in. A few 
years will see the completion, not 
only of this plant, but the fine sewer- 
age establishment which is begin- 
ning under the $16,000,000 which the 
people have voted for the work. A 
new water supply under the exclus- 
ive control of the city and all these 
improvements owned and controlled 
by the municipality will give those 
facilities which have been needed to 
give real estate in New Orleans that 
value and stability of price which 
will in a few years make such a won- 
derful difference in the dear old 
city which we all love so well and 
which has been the delight of thou- 
sands of visitors from all over the 
world. 

"There is one feature about all this 
work that commends itself special- 
ly to the expert who understands the 
putting in of such great municipal 
improvements, and that is the splen- 
did stability of the work. It will 
last for ages, and the people who 
come in the future will have all 
these advantages provided for them 
and because they have been estab- 
lished in this age of perfection in 
such things and all at one time, there 
will be no city which can in any 
measure compare with New Orleans 
in. these public improvements. 

"In the past few years the growth 
of paved streets in the city has 
been wonderful and wherever it has 
advanced new buildings of the most 
substantial character have followed, 
and the work goes on steadily. In 
the last seven or eight years several 
hundred miles of such streets have 
been built and the residence section 
of the city has extended to what 
was the remote suburbs, and miles 
of new residences with handsome 



grounds and built in the most mod- 
ern style have sprung up where cat- 
tle grazed or gardens were culti- 
vated. This has been true, not only 
in what is called the new city, but 
in the outlying regions of the old 
city as well. The growth has been 
in all directions. At the same time 
the business center is constantly ex- 
tending and there have been some of 
the most substantial structures 
erected. 

"The price of land has been low 
and that has helped to develope the 
growth of the city. Many of the 
poorer people have bought lots and 
built their homes on the homestead 
plan, or on other systems of long 
payment, and are gradually paying 
for them and owning their own prop- 
erty. There is a vast area, not too 
remote from the center of the city, 
yet to be builded, and with the build- 
ing the Nicaragua canal and the 
development of manufactures which 
is now in sight there will be *a mil- 
lion happy people living within its 
limits. 

"One of the factors in the recent 
development of the city and which 
is a factor to be counted on in its 
future progress is tne splendid street 
railway system of the city which 
makes even the remotest portions ac- 
cessible within twenty to thirty min- 
utes by means of the best equipped 
electric cars in the country, as is 
admitted by all experts who have in- 
spected the system. By the means 
of these cars people are brought 
from all points directly to the cen- 
ter of the city, and from there dis- 
tributed wherever they desire to go, 
without delay. This makes all por- 
tions of the city desirable for resi- 
dence and as soon as the street pav- 
ing and sewerage have traversed me 
whole area of the city there will 
scarcely be a choice of location, be- 
cause of the equal formation of the 
city, it being without hills or valleys. 

"Mr. President, while some of the 
details that are necessary to place 
before our friends the marvellous re- 
sources of this city may seem dry, I 
think that they will prove of the 
deepest interest to any one who is 
seeking to understand the advan- 
tages which the city offers for the 
investment of capital. There is 



180 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



woven about the city a web of his- 
toric romance which will ever re- 
main, even when the old landmarks 
and the old customs nave gone, as 
they will go, and the people have a 
reputation for the most generous 
hospitality which the new city will 
not fail to sustain. People have 
come here heretofore on account of 
the quaintness and romantic inter- 
est of the city. They will hereafter 
come to see a model city, where the 
most marvelous prosperity shows it- 
self. 

"We have the greatest river of the 
world running by our doors, with 
a supply of water that will furnish 
the most extensive manufacturing 
establishments that can be conceived, 
and the supply is never diminished. 
We have a harbor which is excelled 
by none, with sixteen miles of wharf 
space available on each side of the 
river, and more if needed, and, as a 
distinguished authority said recent- 
ly, wharves might be built up as far 
as the mouth of Red river and uie' 
largest ships accommodated all the 
way. There is room for the ships of 
the world to load and unload at one 
time, and no congestion is possible. 
"The wharves will very soon be 
under the exclusive control of a 
commission appointed by the State 
and the wharf charges will be re- 
duced to a minimum, just enough to 
maintain the system, which means 
the unlimited expansion of com- 
merce. 

"One of the greatest features of 
the development of a city is the fa- 
cility for location with regard to 
water and railroad transportation. In 
this respect New Orleans has advan- 
tages which can hardly be surpassed 
by any other city. Along her miles 
of river front the whole distance is 
available for manufacturing sites up 
to within a hundred feet of the 
water. The leading railroads have 
their lines along this territory, of- 
fering transportation to every point, 
and the city has wisely and ju- 
diciously laid aside for and required 
to be built a line of belt railroad 
extending the whole length of the 
city. The advantage of this is appar- 
ent to everyone. Transfer of freight 
and facilities for the moving of 
materials for manufacture and fuel 



and the finished products will be 
offered such as will make all the land 
along that part of the city un- 
equalled for sites for the biggest 
kind of industries, and when the tide 
of industry begins this land will Pe 
taken up rapidly and will be one of 
the most valuable portions of New 
Orleans realty. 

"Now, Mr. President, everyone 
realizes the magnitude of the devel- 
opment of commerce and the conse- 
quent development of everything 
which will follow the completion of 
the Nicaraguan canal. It will not 
tarry for its completion, but the 
moment that the bill has passed the 
United States Congress and been 
signed by the President, the rush 
will begin which will make these 
Gulf ports the greatest marts of com- 
merce the world has ever seen, and 
will send the blood of commerce 
hurrying throughout the arteries of 
the country to the remotest portion. 
There will be a period of prosperity 
and growth such as can hardly be 
conceived, when that great highroad 
of commerce is assured, coupled with 
the immensity of trade which the. 
opening up of the islands of the East 
and the great Mongolian empire to 
the products of this country, will 
add. 

"Do you ask what this means for 
the real estate of New Orleans? 
Every foot of it will be needed lor 
stores and warehouses and homes, 
and the prices of that which is now 
at a minimum will go up to a fig- 
ure which will make the owner glad 
that he has it. Fortunes will be 
made in realty which will rival those 
made in the Eastern trade. Rental 
property will be in the greatest de- 
mand and the factories will be 
seeking sites which will give them 
the best advantages of water and 
rail, and there will be hundreds of 
railroads where there are a dozen, 
and all these will furnish population 
seeking every day for houses with 
modern conveniences to live in and 
money with which they will pay the 
rent and make the payments on 
those purchased. 

"Mr. President, this is no fancy 
picture. It is the history of all 
cities. Look at New York, Chicago,, 
and the other great cities which 



Held in New Orleans December 4-7 1900. 



1S1 



have enjoyed these advantages long 
ago and perhaps passed their period 
of wonderfully fast development. 
With the building of the canal, New- 
Orleans will strike a pace that will 
make their growth look slow. In 
New Orleans the rich and the poor 
may hope to find their ideal of a 
city. The laws and customs of the 
South are favorable to ( investment of 
capital. The people are law abiding 
and peaceful and the influx of new 
citizens will help to control whatever 
element there is of danger in the 
State. The financial affairs of the 
State are managed in the most care- 
ful manner and her bonds are gilt- 
edged, and the city will ere long have 
acquired an enviable reputation in 
that line as the old reconstruction 
debts which the people are paying to 
the last cent, are gotten rid of. 

"All these elements go to make 
the City of New Orleans an ideal 
place for the investment of capital 
in real estate. Realty is the most 
sensitive of all to the influence of 
depression, and on the other hand 
it is the quickest to recover its equil- 
ibrium, and with the rising tide of 
business prosperity which the vast 
crops, the establishment of sound 
money on a firm basis and the gen- 
eral good condition of all material 
things, I believe that the outlook for 
real estate in this city is the best 
that we have ever seen. All of the 
conditions are favorable. Prop- 
erty has reached its lowest point and 
must rise rapidly, and the eyes of 
the world have been turned towards 
this city by the remarkable puDiic 
improvements which I have already 
referred to, and also on account of 
the fact that we are the great port 
which has the good fortune to be 
nearest the Nicaragua canal. We 
are glad to have so many intelligent 
and public spirited men here at this 
time and hope that they will carry 
away with them a better knowledge 
of the conditions here than has been 



general throughout the country. It 
has been apparent to the well posted 
real estate man for some time that 
there is a stronger inquiry for our 
property than for years, and there 
have been some of the most prom- 
inent investors in the country look- 
ing into the status of affairs, the 
results of which investigation can- 
not fail to be favorable to New Or- 
leans. What is true of this city will 
prove to be true in a greater or less 
degree of other Southern cities. 
There is room in the South for a 
vast population of free and fearless 
citizens, and they will come from 
tfie North and West and from the old 
world, bringing us new ideas and 
new blood, and bringing money. 

"Mr. President, after a lew years 
we hope that the convention, then 
grown to magnificent proportions 
and increased usefulness in the ratio 
of the development of the south, will 
come back to New Orleans to ho i 
its session, and we will then be able 
to show you as the result of the wise 
policy that is now being carried out 
in the way of public improvements, 
a city, the public buildings and pri- 
vate residences of which will be ex- 
celled by those of no city in the 
world and a city which will be 
known for the value and stability of 
its real property investments, se- 
cured by the just and equitable laws 
which the State possesses, and wiiere 
our friends from abroad will have 
invested their money and built their 
homes and grown rich and happy. 

"If any of the members of the con- 
vention or visitors will call at the 
real estate exchange, we will be glad 
to explain to them the system on 
which we do business — a system 
which furnishes the greatest security, 
and when you come again the real 
estate exchange hopes to have an 
opportunity to welcome you to its 
handsome new building, which is in 
contemplation." 



AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF THE SOUTJ3 

BY MR. S. F. B. MORSE. 



Mr. S. P. B. Morse, Asst. Traffic 
Manager Southern Pacific Railway, 
of Houston, Texas, who was not 



present in the forenoon when the 
subject of "Agricultural Resources of 
the South" was under discussion, and 



182 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



who should have opened the discus- 
sion on that subject, was then in- 
troduced to the meeting. Mr. Morse 
received a cordial reception. 

Mr. S. P. B. Morse: "Ladies and 
Gentlemen, I regret that I was not 
here this forenoon, as I would rather 
have preceded Professor Atwater 
than iollow him, his practical 
illustrations of what he says are so 
extremely interesting. 



"I cannot help referring to the way 
in which I was inveigled into treat- 
ing this subject. Two letters were 
received by my office. The first one 
I opened and read, and found that 
it was from the energetic secretary 
of this association, in which he said 
very politely that my name had been 
suggested to treat the subject of 
Agriculture in its Relation to Im- 
migratici and Home-seekers. That 



. 




S. F. B. MORSE, ASST. TRAFFIC MANAGER SOUTHERN PACIFIC 

RAILWAY. 



was all right, and it occurred to me 
that I might possibly be able to 
say something on that subject. The 
second letter said, 'taking silence for 
consent, I have advertised to the 
country that you will speak on the 
subject of "Agricultural Resources of 
the South." ' (Laughter and ap- 



plause.) Many of my friends here 
will wonder at my audacity in get- 
ting up here to talk on such a broad 
subject. In another part of his let- 
ter your secretary says that the sub- 
ject had been originally assigned to 
the secretary of the department of 
agriculture, and asked me to treat 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, igoo. 



183 



that confidentially. (Laughter.) 
There was another paragraph in his 
letter which caused me no little con- 
cern. I wrote to the honorable sec- 
retary and said I was at sea, and 
would he not kindly sketch out a 
few things that I might take to the 
convention. I was in hopes that he 
would write the whole sketch; 
(laughter) but he came back at me 
and said, 'You have chosen a very 
broad subject and I want you to treat 
it properly even if it takes seven vol- 
umes of small type.' Now, just be- 
fore rising your secretary takes all 
the wind out of my sentiment and 
whispers, 'It is late; please cut it 
down.' (Laughter.) 

Mr. S. F. B. Morse then read the 
following paper on: 

The Agricultural Resources of the 
South. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: It is but 
fitting that so broad a subject, em- 
bracing as it does one of the fairest 
portions of this great and glorious 
country, should be discussed in one 
of its most delightful cities. The 
South to New Orleans -means every- 
thing that is great and noble and 
New Orleans to the South, represents 
a gleaming jewel in its diadem of 
thriving social and commercial cen- 
ters; a jewel whose lustre shall il- 
lumine the vistas of coming centur- 
ies and carry the rays of prosperity 
and civilization down the aisles of 
admiring posterity. 

"I am free to confess that when 
I was confronted with the subject al- 
lotted me: 'The Agricultural re- 
sources of the South,' I was nearly 
overwhelmed with the possibilities 
contained in the text and by uie 
fact that my training had led me into 
nearly every other channel of pro- 
gress than agriculture and its kindred 
institutions. It became a question of 
what did I know of agriculture, of 
the farmer, of the prosaic environ- 
ments of field and forest, and of the 
things which grow therein. I was 
dimly conversant with potatoes and 
corn, and other common products 
of the garden and farm, but the sub- 
ject stretched forth, encompassing 
the whole horizon of thought, and 
holding within its possibilities the 
key to wealth and material prosper- 



ity, and I almost lost heart in the 
fear that what I did not know would 
overwhelm the few things I did 
know and 'put me to the foil.' The 
gigantic school of the world, how- 
ever, had taught me to obey orders, 
and as I have been honored by the 
convention and told to go ahead 
with a subject of its own choosing, 
I have placed my shoulder to the 
wheel in an effort to justify its con- 
fidence and save myself the ignominy 
of defeat. 

"The South is rolling onward like 
the chariot of Phaeton, leaving a 
glorious track across the firmament 
of commerce and progress, but, un- 
like the first, this second is not 
swerving from the path, but on the 
contrary, cleaving to the line and 
establishing a reputation for correct- 
ness and integrity unsmirched by 
even the shadow of a fault. 

"When I say that in the soil is 
found the first element of wealth, I 
but echo what others have said be- 
fore. As a self evident truth it con- 
fronts the universe, and the world 
must bow before the man who digs 
and delves beneath the blue of hea- 
ven, making it possible for the many 
to enjoy the fruits of his labor in 
luxury and ease, while he, this 'Man 
with the Hoe,' a better man than 
Markham's lives his quiet, simple 
and pastoral existence, in the main 
contented with what he hath; but 
securing the least part of what he 
makes possible. 

"Agriculture means what: The 
conversion of bare fields into culti- 
vated tracts or areas. The term em- 
braces every occupation of man or 
woman which depends upon the rais- 
ing of products from seed or root and 
even the conversion also of the raw 
products into their varied forms of 
trade and commerce, ready for the 
consumer. The field and forest alike 
contributes its pro rata in different 
degrees and the water courses play 
not least part in the economy of the 
whole. Upon the agricultural re- 
sources of a State or country depends 
its future prosperity and in propor- 
tion to its advantages and facility 
of being brought into play, depends 
the extent of this prosperity. 

"No section of the United States 
has been so blessed with the things 



184 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



which make agriculture simple as is 
the South to-day. Possessing an area 
of 600,000,000 acres, a large part of 
which is capable of being converted 
into farms, the South contains every 
element of success in the direction 
indicated and the past few years has 
more than demonstrated every 
claim made in its behalf. The near 
future will undoubtedly witness a 
remarkable development in agricul- 
tural departments of the various 
states. The fertility of the lands, the 
ease with which cultivation is car- 
ried on, the climatic influences and 
conditions which enable a man to 
toil in, the fields 300 out of 365 days 
in the year, and the growing markets 
for its products, is daily attracting 
added attention, and the influx of 
immigration and outside capital is 
changing the complexion of the sec- 
tions rapidly. The historian has 
been kept busy recording the ad- 
vance of the Southern States in the 
matter of commercial growth and 
the augmenting facilities for the con- 
version of its raw materials into .the 
finished product. This story will 
not have its end soon. The acres yet 
ignorant of the plow must be brought 
into bearing and with the institution 
of every farmer and his family, an- 
other element is added to the whole. 

"The entire South has demon- 
strated its capacity for production. 
The valleys of the Virginias and the 
Carolinas, the hillsides of Georgia 
and Alabama, the sandy loams of 
Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas, 
the rich fields of Kentucky, the flat 
lands of Florida, the alluvial bottoms 
and red soils of Louisiana and the 
interminable variety of Texas, have 
each and all been clothed with one 
or more of the chief products of 
America, and in many instances, 
may many of the prime crops be 
seen growing in friendly proximity 
in the same field. With these facts 
face to face with the probable set- 
tler, each an object lesson, the re- 
sult most speedily redound to the 
benefit of the several parts of the 
country south of the line and induce 
a prosperity the like of which is yet 
unknown. 

"Let us look at the near past and 
thus gauge the future in the matter 
of production. For the year ending 
December, 1899, the grain produced 



by the South reached the very re- 
spectable proportions of 736,000,000 
bushels, nearly doubling the output 
of 1880; the cotton crop sized up in 
eleven and a quarter million bales 
representing a valuation in connec- 
tion with the seed or over $300,000.- 
000 with a capital invested in cotton 
seed oil mills and cotton factories 
aggregating $165,000,000. In all 
forms of manufacturing one billion 
dollars is engaged wftile the con- 
sumption of raw cotton by the estab- 
lished Southern mills has leaped 
from about 300,000 bales in 1880 to 
1,500,000 at the end of last year, and 
the total value of all manufactured 
products was a billion and a half, an 
increase in the latter of a billion dol- 
lars since 1880. For the present cot- 
ton season the farmers will receive 
over $500,000,000, an increase of 
$200,000,000 above last year. 

"These figures but manifest in part 
what has been accomplished but they 
fail to take into consideration the 
remarkable production of products 
other than the prime ones. The 
peaches of Georgia, the semi-tropi- 
cal fruits of Florida, Louisiana, and 
Texas, the apples of Virginia, the 
Carolinas and Arkansas, nor the con- 
stantly growing truck gardening in- 
terests which are so rapidly assum- 
ing gigantic proportions of the more 
Southern States and which are in 
themselves almost as great a source 
of wealth as the grains and fibres. 
Nor is included the splendid sugar 
industry of Louisiana and the won- 
derful development of the rice fields 
of Louisiana, South Carolina, and 
Texas, which are now contributing 
to the general prosperity of the sec- 
tions indicated. 

"In this connection a brief refer- 
ence to the remarkable development 
of the rice industry in Louisiana 
and Texas seems not amiss. It was 
in 1884 that S. L. Cary, immigration 
agent of the Southern Pacific Com- 
pany since 1888, left Iowa seeking to 
escape the rigors of a severe climate 
and to find new fields of energy. He 
landed at the then diminutive ham- 
let of Jennings when it was a prairie 
and became a station agent of the 
Company at a most moderate sti- 
pend. A few months later he had 
learned that the few farmers 
grew a small supply of "Provi- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, igoo. 



; dence" rice for their own consump- 
tion. Being of an inquiring mind, 
he investigated, became satisfied that 
there was something "in it," and em- 
barked in a new industry— the grow- 
ing of rice on the higfi lands. Land 
was very cheap, 25 cents an acre, 
with men giving it away to save 
taxes. Not depending on the rains, 
he raised water from a near stream, 
irrigated his crop and made the suc- 
cess of his life. He demonstrated a 
fact; proved a possibility and has 
reaped his reward, for hundreds of 
thousands of acres of prairie lands 
are in cultivation in Southwest 
Louisiana and millions of dollars 
have flowed into the pockets of its 
people and it is but the beginning. 

"The rice belt is the most pros- 
perous agricultural section of the 
United States. The production in 
1886 was 2,000,000 pounds. This year 
the production will reach b5u,000,- 
000 pounds. In the first year men- 
tioned 100 cars of 20,000 pounds each 
carried the entire rice crop of the 
section. The present year over 8000 
cars will be required to handle the 
product. Several millions of dollars 
are invested in rice mills; lands have 
advanced' to anywhere from ten to 
forty dollars; hundreds of miles of 
irrigation canals make the crop sure, 
and the belt has extended far into 
the prairie lands of Texas. These 
prairie lands had been considered 
almost worthless. Rice has been 
their redemption and the 55,000 acres 
in cultivation this season in Texas 
will be quadrupled next year, and in 
ten years the two States, from once 
apparently worthless lands, will oe 
in a position to supply the uemands 
of the world. 

"This is but an exemplification of 
the potential possibilities of the 
South in the matter of agriculture. 
While the development of other pro- 
ducts may not reach so remarkable 
proportions, the varied interests and 
facilities of the soil make the future 
bright with promise. The advance of 
science in connection with the agri- 
culturist; the determination of soil 
values; intelligent education of tne 
.farmer; the employment of brains as 
well as brawn and the cultiva- 
tion of tne mind as well as the 
fields will accomplisli wonders. We 



185 

-' ;-:i 

have neglected a source of wealth in 
not devoting time to a development 
of fine stock raising; dairy interests, 
as to milk, butter, and cheese; the 
tanning of our hides, the manufac- 
turing of our cotton, the cultivation 
of hemp and tobacco; the estaulish- 
ment of packeries and canning fac- 
tories, in other words the utilization 
of the multiplicity of our resources. 
Diversification of ideas and of crops 
is necessary. King Cotton has repre- 
sented an absolute despotism for 
years, but that true prosperity ob- 
tain, his reign must be relegated to 
that of a limited monarchy sur- 
rounded by a glowing galaxy of other 
successful products. A one crop 
country like a single idea individual 
must perforce fail in lasting success. 
A single year of bad luck and every 
cotton farmer is a debtor, while the 
constant fluctuation in the price and 
yield of the attractive staple ren- 
ders it an uncertain friend. With 
cotton at ten cents a pound destruc- 
tion threatens, as other commodities 
will be neglected, oiner industries 
disregarded, and all the money re- 
ceived by the sale of the one crop, 
expended for the homely necessities 
of the farm-factory products and ag- 
ricultural implements, which the 
thrifty people of other sections, wiser 
than their neighbors, provide. 

"In this diversification of crops the 
South is aided by the openness of the 
seasons, for while the farmer of the 
North and East with his cattle hi- 
bernating during the Fall and Win- 
ter seasons, his brother of the South, 
crowned by the warm sunshine, is 
watching one crop grow while plant- 
ing another. These are real condi- 
tions and are frequently exceeded by 
the more Southern portions of the 
States included in the subject. 

"The human tide rolls at its thick- 
est in the centers North and East of 
the Ohio and Mississippi and these 
sections represent a greater portion 
of the wealth of the U. S. This 
tide however, is steadily moving 
into the Southland, occupying 
the lands and converting bare areas 
into sources of value. It is to these 
new comers that we must look in a 
measure for increase. New blood 
and energy will accomplish much 
by an overturning of old methods 



186 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



and the inauguration of new methods 
built upon new ideas. The East has 
a very large preponderance of capi- 
tal due to manufacturing and density 
of population. The savings banks of 
Massachusetts for instance contain 
apwards of $500,000,000 on deposit, 
while those of Louisiana, according 
to one of our prominent dailies, con- 
tain but $3,000,000, and that the 
working population of the former 
State is 85 times richer than their 
brethren of Louisiana, although rela- 
tively twice as numerous as the lat- 
ter. This is a proposition that will 
probably work as regards the entire 
South, and points conclusively to the 
necessity for active agitation and ef- 
fort that our own conditions improve 
by taking advantage of the opportu- 
nities and facilities which lie at our 
very doors. 

"When we consider what our 
neighbors north of the line have 
accomplished under conditions ?o 
much more difficult than our own, it 
seems that we have not pushed our 
fortunes in a proper degree; that we 
have enjoyed our milk and honey 
beneath the proverbial fig tree, con- 
tent to sit at ease and let the outer 
world pass us by in the search for 
new fields of operation. The natural 
attractions of this favored South 
however are acting as agents of pros- 
perity and are advertising us better 
than we know, and our Northern 
neighbors, and workers from over 
the seas are crossing the border in- 
to the land of promise. But we must 
work and work harder now. Every 
State in the South contains vast ter- 
ritory unincumbered by the agricul- 
turist or fruit grower. Opportunities 
for the employment of capital are un- 
limited; facilities for trade are idle, 
energy is dormant in a degree. Every 
success achieved by a newcomer 
should be an example, an in- 
centive to effort. It must not suffice 
that the South possesses lands 
which can be bought for almost 
any price; that the earth's pro- 
ducts prosper in an unrivalled cli- 
mate; that the rain belt is broad and 
regular in its precipitation; that the 
markets of the world are open to our 
resources and that the seasons are 
genial and lengthy; we must push 
our section and attractions. We 



must urge the establishment of per- 
manent exhibits of what we produce, 
both field and factory, and locate 
them where others may view and 
profit thereby; we must agitate in 
favor of the institution of technical 
schools, for the education of willing 
hands may not be neglected with 
profit; we must show that the way 
to wealth is by converting our raw 
products before shipment, thus get- 
ting what belongs to us instead of 
permitting others to profit by our 
neglect as they are doing at present. 

"A comparison between the States 
of the North, East and Middle West 
with those of the South reveals a 
woeful discrepancy as a trip through 
the several sections manifests. 
While the South contains millions of 
rich acres only waiting the touch of 
the hoe or plow to blossom into a 
glorious fruition, what a fearful 
dearth we notice. Lovely prospects 
ignored by the hand of man, their 
fertile possibilities known and appre- 
ciated but their cultivation impossi- 
ble because of the want of cultiva- 
tors. Vast tracts of land in every 
Southern State are as barren of im- 
provement as were the savannahs of 
Illinois and Kansas a half century 
since, and save the humble abode of 
a hoary headed son of Ham here and 
there, or the clap-board domicile of 
a more or less shiftless squatter, 
miles and miles of territory grow 
weeds for the wild bees to make har- 
vest. There exist lovely homes in 
watered and cultivated sections; 
beautiful farms owned and worked 
by the best and bravest in the land; 
educational features and agricultural 
areas without number, I grant you, 
but what is, is infinitesimal with 
what can be, what ought to be, ana 
what is to be. There need no one 
pose as a prophet to predict a 
wonderful future for the bare 
acres. The Crescent promise of 
the years to come shall clothe the 
view with fruits of the field witnout 
end and a garment of prosperity 
shall cover the land. 

"There was every excuse for the 
lack of energy and enterprise which 
marked the progress of the South 
during the years which immediately 
followed the war. Ambition and 
future alike seemed blighted by the 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7 } ipoo. 



187 



hand of Fate and nought but unde- 
viating and relentless Time could 
wipe out the scenes and incidents 
which filled countless graves and 
wrapped the South and North alike 
in a garb of bitter woe. Nemesis 
slumbers now in a grave of her own 
making, and harmony and an undi- 
vided country blesses our Union and 
shall bless it forever. 

"A more material reason may be 
advanced in extenuation of the con- 
ditions which are so rapidly passing 
away, and in treating this phase of 
the subject I can only offer as an 
apology the fact that my entire 
working life, dating almost from 
childhood, has been bound up in the 
railroads and their environments. 
The artist views the forest, the sea, 
and the sky and secures his inspira- 
tion; the poet plays upon the gentler 
passions for his meter; the business 
man with an eye to commerce and 
barter, sees in stocks and boards of 
trade a theme for speculation, and 
the railroad man with prosaic fore- 
thought must of necessity gauge the 
prosperity and possibilities of his 
country by the lines of communica- 
tion and transportation, knowing 
well that much traveled roads repre- 
sent an element of progress, and that 
ease of transport builds to plenty and 
luxury. That the rail or water lines 
represent the channels by which all 
trade and commerce must operate 
and that in these man must realize 
the elements of wealth and energy. 
"Through the building of the rail- 
roads and their rapid and constant 
extension into productive territory, 
the Northeast and Middle West 
has waxed rich and powerful in 
trade. In proportion to the lay- 
ing of the rail and the extension of 
the track enbankment communities 
and States have grown to magnifi- 
cent proportions and those sections 
which have failed to secure these 
transportation facilities have re- 
mained dormant notwithstanding 
their rich possibilities. So too have 
the centers of civilization and pro- 
gress been developed along the routes 
of communication. This holds good in 
every instance and is a greater argu- 
ment than any other I could adduce. 
Siberia was naught but land of 
misery; a penal settlement, until the 



Trans-Siberian R. R. revealed its- 
wonderful possibilities, and made 
feasible its internal development. 

"There was a time, and not so far 
distant but that we feel the deterrent 
influences thereof, when the South 
was as lacking in the matter of rail- 
roads and rapid and safe transits as 
it was of manufacturing industries; 
when the avenues of communication 
were represented by the uncertain 
attractions of a few rail lines badly 
constructed, equipped and managed. 
Commodities were not particularly 
plentiful and hog and hominy the 
staple articles of diet. Even the 
changing years but slowly improved 
these conditions, and while railroads 
were being pushed from the great 
centers North of the Ohio and Poto- 
mac, our own country, with all of 
its attractions was in a measure a 
terra incognito to the 'Barbarian of 
the North.' 

"All this is altering, I am glad to 
say, and the past twenty years has 
been witnessing a remarkable 
growth generally both of the rail 
lines and of the country contiguous 
to these lines, for it has followed, 
'as the night the day,' that progress, 
enterprise and plenty always run 
parallel to the advance of the sur- 
veyor and the track gang. Cities 
spring in the night like mushrooms 
because modern locomotives, freight 
and passenger cars are speeding on- 
ward, the fore-runners of energy and 
enterprise. 

"Throughout the South the exten- 
sion of the transportation facili- 
ties is working wonders and 
rapidly bringing conditions to a 
state of moderate perfection, making 
possible the elaboration of the many 
advantages it possesses. The vast 
timber areas have been made sources 
of immense individual and general 
wealth, the greater crops of the sev- 
eral States are increasing in quantity 
and value because of the certainty 
of markets; the fruit and early veg- 
etable industry are prospering in a 
corresponding degree to the rapid- 
ity with which these commodities are 
taken to the consumer, and a perma- 
nent incentive to added enterprise 
and agricultural effort has been 
given to the people as a whole. 

"The South at present enjoys the 



188 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



direct benefits of a first class system 
of transportation. Fast freight lines 
enable shippers to secure the greatest 
values possible, swift passenger 
trains and accommodating schedules 
attract business and the improve- 
ment of this latter feature of the 
systems has been to induce thousands 
of persons to visit the .South who 
would have otherwise sought more 
pleasant lines of travel. Add to these, 
the stability of operation guaranteed 
by large corporations, the very low 
freight and passenger charges and 
the connection between the trans- 
portation lines, and the public as re- 
gards development, becomes appa- 
rent, n; 

"An even stronger argument in 
support of my contention that up- 
on the transportation lines is to no 
little extent dependent the prosperity 
of a country, and that the South 
lias been in a measure lacking in 
both until during the past two de- 
cades, is found in the fact that were 
it not for the methods of transporta- 
tion now in vogue the U. S. could 
not compete with other countries in 
the matter of exports of articles pro- 
duced equally as well outside of this 
country. 

"Taking the single item of wheat, 
a product which yearly inures to 
the benefit of the farmers in vast 
sums, and forms our chief item 
of export. The U. S. has for a 
good many years enjoyed the dis- 
tinction of being enabled to supply 
the world out of its surplus owing to 
a demand, and to the fact that no 
other country was raising more of 
the grain than was required for home 
consumption. The conditions have 
altered now, and India, Russia, 
Argentine Republic and Australia 
are rapidly increasing their wheat 
acreage and exporting the grain to 
the nations of Europe. 

"Last year Argentine exported 
nearly eighty millions bushels or 
wheat to Europe, practically every 
bushel being produced on lands con- 
tiguous to the sea coast, little of it 
being located more tnan three hun- 
dred miles from any port. The rail 
carriage thus cut very little figure in 
the transaction and were it not for 
the fact that the ocean freightage is 
vastly higher from South America 



than it is from our own ports, this 
lack of necessity in the matter of 
rail transportation would operate 
disastrously to our trade. It is prob- 
able that the supply in Argentine 
alone will double during the next 
five years and additional efforts will 
be made to secure an adjustment of 
freight rates. 

"The improvement in the matter 
of rail transportation in Russia will 
be a question of but a short time. 
Our entire wheat supply is grown in 
territory practically thousands of 
miles from our ports and in order to 
retain our present ascendancy the 
rail lines will have to be accorded 
every advantage, that the product be 
handled expeditiously and with pro- 
fit to all concerned. The price of 
wheat, or any great crop and the 
prosperity of the growers is depen- 
dent upon the railroads ana tnus de- 
velopment rests in a large measure 
with the methods of transportation. 

"The difficulties under which Rus- 
sia and Australia labor represent 
practically what the South did labor 
under, but with the development of 
the transportation lines, progress be- 
came possible and the farmers 
and others interested, are en- 
abled to not only grow their 
crops, but to market them. In fact 
the railroads are active factors in de- 
velopment of agriculture and equally 
as important in determining the rela- 
tive value of the prime crops by the 
facilities for getting the products to 
markets at home, and to our various 
seaports for export abroad. The 
great advantage we enjoy in quick 
and regular transportation methods, 
and our proximity to the Gulf and 
Atlantic seaports, make it possible 
for the agriculturists of the South to 
enjoy the fruits of their industry. 

"The South is beyond peradventure 
rich in all the potent influences 
which make countries great, and 
with thrift and industry, its people 
should wax fat and prosperous as 
the time progresses. She has 
everything that divine providence 
stored in a material warehouse, and 
energy and enterprise constitutes the 
"Open Sesame" which will unlock 
the door. Already mucn has 
been accomplished. Field and 
forest are contributing in steadily 



Held in New Orleans, Decembei 4-7, igoo. 



189 



augmenting volume, and the rivers 
have been harnessed to do their part 
of the work. The glowing possi- 
bilities are within the reach of the 
world, and her smiling landscapes, 
fertile fields, richness above and be- 
neath the surface, create a combina- 
tion unequalled anywhere. The day- 
is not far distant when the South 
will be synonymous with wealth, en- 
terprise andprosperity, and the pres- 
ent inequality of population and 
riches will have been equalized by 
a settlement of our vacant places and 
the encouragement or agriculture in 
all of its branches, not omitting the 
manufacturing enterprises which are 
always a part of the grand scheme. 
"W. E. Gladstone, England's great 
commoner, said that the time was 



approaching when the United State3 
would be one of the greatest nations 
in the world. Am I too optimistic 
when I say that I am persuaded that 
the South will fulfill that prediction. 

"Could Horace Greely, whose 
words of advice have been followed 
by commenting thousands, have 
lived until the present day, his eyes 
would have, gazed into the future 
with that far seeing prophetic in- 
stinct that was a distinguishing 
characteristic, and his advice to the 
young man would not be as it was, 
to 'go West,' but the legend would 
read 'go South,' and become a part 
of the most glorious portion of a 
glorious country." 

Mr. Morse's speech elicited re- 
peated and enthusiastic applause. 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

BY TOM L. CANNON. 



Mr. Tom L. Cannon, of St. Louis 
was then introduced and said: 

"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of 
the Convention: 

"You have listened to many valu- 
able papers pertaining to so many 
grave questions prepared with such 
care to be presented to you, appeal- 
ing to your patriotism, that I, speak- 
ing off hand, scarcely feel at home 
before you to-night. I come to you 
in a dual capacity, first, as a son of 
the South, loving its people, its in- 
stitutions, its past and its present. 
(Applause.) 

"It would be as utterly impossible 
for me to apologize for the course 
of the South, as it would be to apol- 
ogize for doing something that I be- 
lieved to be right. (Applause.) In 
all the history of the South I con- 
cur in what was done and believed 
then as I believe now that it was 
honesty, principle and truth. I 
don't want to apologize for my coun- 
try, for my section, any more than 
I would wish to apologize if the peo- 
ple of the United States made a mis- 
take in some foreign entanglements 
and deserted the cause that they un- 
dertook. That is as an individual. 

"The other capacity in which I 
come is as the accredited represen- 
tative of the manufacturers of the 
City of St. Louis, 7186 institutions, 



employing 94,000 people and paying 
out annually $127,000,000. These peo- 
ple have sent me here to talk to 
you upon a question that is second 
to none that has been considered 
here, and I propose to talk that ques- 
tion briefly and to the point, 'The 
Improvement of the Mississippi 
River ami its Tributaries.' (Ap- 
plause.) 

"I want to see literally the motto 
of this convention carried out. I am 
here for business, representing busi- 
ness men. I am tired of hearing tne 
Mississippi river discussed as a sec- 
tional question— it is a national ques- 
tion. (Applause.) I am tired of 
hearing men apologize lor asking 
Congress for appropriations to im- 
prove the Mississippi river. For 
generations we have contributed to 
this government our quota of taxes 
and soldiers. We people of the 
South, along the Mississippi river 
and tributaries have on deposit or 
should have there, subject to our de- 
mand, a sufficient sum to do what we 
ask. We are not asking a favor of 
Congress. One man from the South 
went there and has done more i.nan 
all of the other congressmen put to- 
gether because he meant business. 
During his term or terms, covering 
a period of ten or twelve years, on 
the River and Harbor Committee, he 



190 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention 



secured stronger and better appro- 
priations than any other man who 
has served there for the Mississippi 
river. I refer to your distinguished 
statesman, politician if you wish, 
your esteemed judge, Judge Blan- 
chard. (Applause.) It is a mistake 
of the people that he is not in the 
Senate of the United States to-day, 
and more men like him in Congress 
from the South. It is a mistake 
the gravest and greatest mistake that 
the South makes, is that persistent, 
useless, senseless cry against the 
politician. The politician is exactly 
what the people who elected him to 
office make him. If he is a thief, 
you elected a thief. It is as easy to 
elect a man who will be a statesman 
as to elect a man who will not do 
his duty. I am a practical politician, 
liave been for a number of years, 
always expect to be, and yet never 
held office in my life. I want the 
men who hold office in my section 
of the country to be under obliga- 
tion to me, and when I go to them 
in office I expect their support; and 
the man is too pure to take part in 
the politics of his country is too 
pure to live in a republic. This is 
no demagoguery. Abuse is heaped 
on men in public life and yet the 
men who in the majority of instances 
heap contumely upon those in office 
would like to be office themselves. 
I have no patience with that rot. 
We are going now into a great ques- 
tion, the question of the improve- 
ment of the Mississippi river. But 
to whom are you going for support? 
To the man who sits in his bank, 
the man who sits in his counting 
room, the man who loafs in saloons, 
or the politician who has been 
elected to office? Has he a vote in 
Congress? Do you know what it is 
likely to cost you to do this work 
you are undertaking? Do you know 
that from the Gulf of Mexico up the 
Father of Waters there are thou- 
sands and thousands of miles of 
streams that should be improved? 
Do you know that because you in 
the past have neglected your duty 
as a politician these streams are not 
improved? Do you know that if in 
the past half century you had taken 
some interest in electing good men 
to office who would not trade you 



off in Congress, many of these 
streams would be improved to-day? 
Do you know that if you had elected 
good men, kept them in office, 
trained them so that they became 
skilled men, adepts in legislation, in 
controlling votes, that you would 
have been better off? But, in the 
whim or caprice of the moment's 
fancy you would defeat a good man 
for nomination or election because 
he had not done what you wished. 
You send green men to Congress. It 
takes a man two, four to six years 
to be come fit timber for Congress. 
There is scarcely a man in the 
United States to-day who can go into 
the halls of Congress on the first 
occasion and make any impression 
on that body. You change your Con- 
gressmen every little while, and as 
a result when questions of legisla- 
tion come up the great appropria- 
tion bills, some enormous amount 
is asked for improvement of a har- 
bor on the Atlantic coast in New 
England, and your Congressman is 
traded off for a thirty thousand dol- 
lar public building in his town. 
(Laughter.) He does not know what 
to do, you don't give him time to 
understand what is necessary; you 
don't give him an opportunity to do 
it nor do you give him an oppor- 
tunity to know how to do it. That 
has been the greatest stumbling 
block to us all; that has been the 
greatest drawback to the develop- 
ment and improvement of the Mis- 
sissippi river. Now, gentlemen, so 
much for the past, and I am not 
saying this in an unkind spirit. I 
am not saying it to appeal to pre- 
judice or to passion, I am saying it 
in the hope that instead of trying 
to reform the politician you will re- 
form yourselves and get good poli- 
ticians. (Applause.) 

"It will take an enormous amount 
of money to improve the Mississippi 
river. I don't care to go into figures; 
I don't know the amount it would 
take, but if it took a hundred mil- 
lion dollars we are entitled to it, 
and we should have it, because we 
have contributed our quota to the 
other sections of the country, when 
our greenhorn Congressmen forgot 
to get ours. You can make the Mis- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



191 



sissippi river a navigable system 
for ocean vessels. You can build 
from here to the great lakes of ihe 
Korth and West and int3r oceanic 
canal, you can carry into its tribu- 
taries miles and miles of navigable 
streams; this could be done, it 
should be done, and when you gen- 
tlemen quit meeting in convention 
as you do, passing resolutions that 
die in that convention, you will take 
a step in the right direction. I have 
attended man;'- conventions in the 
past twenty years, all through the 
Southern States, and the mistake is 
that you pass resolutions, prepare 
papers, invite men to address you 
and as scon as the convention ends 
the majority of the men there after- 
wards disperse and the result of 
your convention dies, without effect. 
If you propose to present to Con- 
gress a bill or a clause in a bill ask- 
ing for a sufficient amount to do 
this work as rapidly as can be, /our 
first duty is to appoint a committee 
of representative men of requisite 
strength and character, provide ways 
and means and sustain them in Con- 
gress — back up your Congressmen 
until you get your appropriation. It 
is your duty when calling a conven- 
tion together as this convention is 
called to do down into your pockets 
and pay the expenses of the conven- 
tion. No man or set of men, your 
officers or representatives can afford 
to undertake to do this work without 
your doing it. Let me illustrate what 
I mean. Three years ago the 12th an- 
nual national meeting of the Irriga- 
tion Congress was held in Wichita. 
It was going along just as other con- 
ventions have done and as this one 
is doing. After reading and debat- 
ing resolutions, inviting papers, 
compiling statistics — when that con- 
vention was over the next heard of 
it wis when the next convention was 
called. 

"Twelve years ago, one young man 
Mr. George H. Maxwell, of Califor- 
nia, was appointed chairman of an 
executive committee to provide ways 
and means for carrying out this 
work; and he went before the Com- 
mission of Congress last year and 
secured his expense bill for work tow- 
ards the reclamation of arid Amer- 
ica, $150,000.00. He is asking two 



hundred million dollars and he will 
get it. What does that mean to us? 
It means the building of great stor- 
age reservoirs in the mountains to 
control the waterflow, to use it \n 
irrigating the arid lands of the West, 
bringing it down after being used to 
the smallest streams and passing in- 
to the Mississippi river, if these 
reservoirs are built, and I am going 
to say they will be built, because 
men are behind it, it means two 
things to you. The first, it will pre 
vent the great repeated spring over- 
flows that inundate the lands alon& 
the Mi&sissippi river. It will stop 
all waste; it will give you a greater 
volume of water for it can be let 
out during the time of low water to 
flow down your streams. Let us 
see what it will mean. The losses 
along the Mississippi river from 
overflows cost you annually enough 
money to pay the interest on what is 
required to build the storage reser- 
voirs. The excess freight rate on 
the tonnage here will pay the money. 
Whose money is it? Ours. These 
are practical problems. Now this 
young man, not a boy but in the 
meridian of life, held a convention 
in Chicago two weeks ago. From all 
over this land came prominent men, 
and all the money that was neces- 
sary came in as contributions. The 
people of the West, the people of the 
East, the people of the South con- 
tributed and are contributing to that 
association and its work. I know it 
for I am its treasurer. It has the 
means to conduct its business and 
you should have the same means. 
Those men all along the Pacific 
slope, through the Northwest, away 
up into the lakes, further up into 
the Northwest, all down into the in- 
terior, are willing to join hands with 
the South on the twin propositions 
of irrigation and the improvement of 
the Mississippi river. (Applause.) I 
am here to tell you, and I talk au- 
thoritatively, they want your votes 
and you want theirs. Those two ele- 
ments combined in one will con- 
trol the vote of Congress. Do you 
know that? The time has come in 
the history of the United States 
when the greatest vote of Congress 
lies west of the Alleghany moun- 
tains. We will join In carrying the 



192 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



flag of this country into the ports 
of every country in the world. The 
exports of this country largely come 
from the Mississippi valley and the 
sun o an ding country. We want you 
to know that the agricultural pro- 
ducts exported come from that valley; 
we want you to know that the major- 
ity of the manufactured products ex- 
ported come from that valley. Not 
alone all along the banks of the 
Mississippi river, but all over this 
great country, we are Americans, we 
are with you. It is not a question of 
sentiment, it is not a question of 
section — it is a question for you, be- 
lieve what I say, of the nation di- 
viding equally the profits of that 
nation among its people. It is use- 
less, it is nonsense, it is folly for 
people to get up and say that there 
is no sectionalism, and then when 
the time comes to vote and transact 
business it is limited to section. 
There is no sense or reason for a 
man saying that it is not political 
when the very vitals of our super- 
structure rest upon a political basis. 
You can do nothing of a public 
character without going into public 
questions, not necessarily partisan 
for there are good men and bad men 
in both parties, but you must take 
up political questions for this bo ly 
is a political body; you cannot get 
around it, and in order to do it sat- 
isfactorily you have got to go right 
down into the depths of politics; you 
have got to come together and sus- 
tain your committees, ask all that 
is necessary and get it. It can be, 
it should be done, it is being done 
by other sections in this country, 
not as a sectional matter but as an 
American matter. Let us be Ameri- 
can and get in line. (Applause..) We 
were recently asked to support a 
great bill; its provisions were broad 
as broad as the American Union but 
its specifications were limited to a 



few and yet there was no sectional- 
ism — no there was no sectionalism, 
not at all. There is where we make 
a mistake. There is one thing we 
have avoided all the time; we have 
apologized for the South as being 
sectional. Well, if it came to a ques- 
tion of a show-down I would rather 
draw four aces than a bob-tail flush. 
I would rather be low and stand my 
ground than to take chances of 
some one else filling in for me. That 
is the right kind of sectionalism. If 
i! comes to a test between sections 
I am with the South, but you have 
got to confront it and there is no 
way to get around it; we want the 
Mississippi river improved from one 
end to the other. There are plenty 
of men who have plenty of money 
all along the banks of that river and 
its tributaries standing ready to-day 
to nif ke liberal contributions for the 
sustinence of a committee of suf- 
ficient strength to go to Washington 
and to present to Congress of the 
United States the necessary de- 
mands, if you wish it; request if 
you prefer it, to incorporate in a 
river and harbors bill an appropria 
tion of a sufficient sum of money to 
improve the Mississippi river in a 
substantial way. I am here for this 
express purpose. The details of this 
bill must be framed by men better 
skilled in its details and figures than 
I am. I am here to tell you that we 
are ready, half way up the Missis- 
sippi river, to join forces with you. 
I am from that city half way up 
the Mississippi river standing ready 
on behalf of that city to join with 
you here. But, it is with you right 
here at the mouth of the Mississippi 
river that the work should begin 
and continue until it becomes a deep 
Waterway. 

"Get into harness, get into poli- 
tics, and do your work, or quit talk- 
ing." (Applause.) 



THE MISSISSIPII RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 

BY JUDGE N. C. BLANCHARD. 



Judge N. C. Blanchard, Chairman tlemen of the Convention: It is not 

of the Committee on the Mississippi my purpose at this late hour of the 

River and its tributaries, said: evening to detain you by any lengthy 

"Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gen- address upon the great subject which 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



19; 



now occupies the attention of the 
Convention. Owing to my arduous 
duties on the bench, I have not been 
able to attend the sessions of the 
Convention. At the opening of the 
Convention, however, I received a 
letter from your honorable Secretary 
stating to me that I had been named 
as Chairman of the Committee to 
deal with the subject of the 'Missis- 
sippi River and Its Tributaries.' I 
replied to him that my duties would 
be such that I could not attend the 
Convention, and he answered to the 
effect that if I could not attend, to 
prepare at least a sketch of the sub- 
ject with accompanying resolutions 
to be presented here to-night, which 
resolutions I am here to present. 
Where this committee is with which 
I am associated, who they are, and 
what has become of them, I know 
not. They are lost I fear in the 
mazes of the daily and nightly at- 
tractions of this. seductive city. 

"Gentlemen of the Convention, the 
subject of the Mississippi River and 
Its Tributaries is one, as was stated 
by Mr. Cannon, of national impor- 
tance. . By no means should this 
question be treated from the stand- 
point of sectionalism or localities. 
The Mississippi River is one of the 
great natural features of the earth. 
It constitutes the greatest system of 
navigable waterways on the face of 
the globe. As a drainage system, it 
furnishes channels through which 
are drained to the Gulf of Mexico 
the rainfall of more than half of the 
northern portion of the American 
Continent. As highways of com- 
merce, with 16,000 miles of naviga- 
ble waterways, it is unsurpassed in 
the world. As such, it has been 
treated by the Congress of the United 
States, and while I do not believe 
that the appropriations by Congress 
have been adequate to the immensity 
of this object, nevertheless, Congress 
has not put forth a niggardly hand 
in that respect. I wish to tell you, 
gentlemen of the Convention, that 
while much has already been ac- 
complished, a vast deal more remains 
to be accomplished. When we con- 
sider what the United States is do- 
ing and has done in respect to im- 
proving its rivers and harbors, we 
are away down the list. I could cite 



you . illustrations and comparisons 
here to-night that would astonish 
you, but time does not permit. I 
will only give you one. Take France, 
a country in Europe, of but little 
more than thirty millions of peo- 
ple and with an area of about one- 
sixteenth of the size of the United 
States. It has appropriated since 
1814 for the improvement and devel- 
opment of its waterways $750,000,000, 
and while doing that, it has appro- 
priated $700,000,000 additional for the 
construction and operation of a great 
railroad system; $650,000,000 addi- 
tional for the construction and re- 
pair of wagonways. Now, gentlemen, 
if you take that for comparison, let 
us illustrate what France is as com- 
pared with the United States. If you 
take the Empire State of the South, 
our sister State of Texas, and re- 
solve it into a great circular sea, and 
of France make a circular island, 
there would yet be one hundred miles 
of margin of water all around it. 

"Conventions like this, gentlemen 
of the Convention, should make their 
voices felt in the Congress of the 
United States, when it comes to deal- 
ing with great questions like that 
of the Mississippi River. We must 
not only stand for the improvement 
of our rivers and waterways, but we 
must approach this subject in a cath- 
olic spirit, and keep in touch with 
other sections of the country which 
have waterways of their own to 
improve and make it to their 
advantage to stand with us as 
it is to our advantage to 
stand with them. Some time ago 
when I occupied a seat in the lower 
house in Congress, I visited the great 
sections of the lakes. I did so, gen- 
tlemen, for the purpose of laying 
the foundation of a great combina- 
tion, the details of which would be 
later worked out in Congress. It 
was my purpose as Chairman of the 
River and Harbor Committee of that 
body to endeavor to make a new ue- 
parture in respect to the improve- 
ment of the Mississippi River, and 
that was to do away with the drib- 
let system of a million or two this 
year, then skip over a year, then 
a million or two another year, a> 
wasteful policy; but to make a gi- 
gantic strike for millions of dollars 



194 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



to be expended under the continuous 
work system, and the idea I had 
was to make a reciprocity agree- 
ment with the people inhabiting the 
great States bordering on the chain 
of the Great Lakes of the North, 
with a view that by this combina- 
tion the Lake States and the Missis- 
sippi River States would absolutely 
dictate and control the river and 
harbor sentiment in Congress. And 
everywhere I went, from Cleveland 
to Duluth, I preached the doctrine 
of reciprocity of interests between 
the Lake States and the Mississippi 
River States, and wherever that doc- 
trine was preached it met with the 
hearty response and support of these 
people. The result was that when 
Congress met a few months later for 
three months, I sat on the Commit- 
tee of Rivers and Harbors to prove 
the details of that gigantic combi- 
nation, and when that bill was 
launched on the floor of Congress, 
it carried an authorization to the 
Secretary of War to spend in four 
years' time $16,000,000 for the im- 
provement of the Mississippi River, 
ten millions of that was for the river 
below Cairo and six millions above. 
The combination was so great that 
it included two-thirds of both houses 
of Congress. Any man attempting 
to stay the passage of that bill mignt 
as well jump in front of a locomo- 
tive running at the rate of fifty miles- 
an hour. They were all in it, all 
sections were in it, every member of 
Congress that needed anything in 
his district got it, and the impious 
hand that was raised against the bill 
was immediately struck down. 

"Now, gentlemen of the Conven- 
tion, with these brief remarks as a 
preface to the short report and reso- 
lutions I have prepared, I will now 
proceed to read them: 

"The Mississippi River and its 
tributaries, having their sources in 
the North, the Northeast and North- 
west and flowing southward, are a 
rich heritage bestowed upon the peo- 
ple of the United States by the mu- 
nificent hand of the Creator of the 
universe. 

"Viewed as a drainage system, it 
has imposed upon it the duty of car- 
rying safely to sea the rainfall of 
largely more than half of the terri- 



torial area of the Union. Even as 
far away to the Northeast as the 
Southwestern portion of the State of 
New York the waters that fall find 
their way to the Gulf of Mexico 
through these channels, and at and 
below Cairo mingle in the merry 
race seaward with the waters that 
fall to the far westward and north- 
westward, even to the snow-crowned 
caps of the Rockies themselves. 

"Viewed as a system of navigable 
waterways, it stands unequalled on 
the world's surface. Highways of 
commerce, free to all without ton- 
nage tax, tariff or impost, an aggre- 
gate length of 16,000 miles of navi- 
gable channels, reaching half of the 
people of the whole country, and 
ready to hand as great factors and 
instrumentalities in the industrial 
development of the country. 

"Viewed as a field of exploit, for 
the exercise of the faculties and en- 
ergies of man, the country drained 
by these rivers presents unrivalled 
opportunities. 

"The alluvial valley of the great 
river, lying almost entirely in that 
geographical subdivision of our coun- 
try known as "the South," is the 
largest and richest on the globe. This 
splendid area comprises nearly 30,- 
000 square miles. It contains nearly 
20,000,000 acres of land of a fertility 
scarcely equalled by the famed Val- 
ley of the Nile. Of this vast domain 
it is estimated that 18,000,000 acres 
are susceptible of the highest de- 
gree of cultivation, yet up to the 
present time not more than 5,000,000 
acres have been utilized for agricul- 
tural purposes. Truly, indeed, 'a 
wonderful empire of richness lies 
here yet undeveloped,' not alone from 
the standpoint of agriculture, but 
that of manufacture, of transporta- 
tion, of trade and commerce, and all 
the industrial arts, as well. 

"Here in this valley, in its cities 
and towns and rural districts, is to 
be found the best of markets for 
everything that anybody anywhere 
raises, produces or manufactures, and 
what the valley offers for sale — its 
wheat and corn and other grain, its 
hay, cotton, sugar, rice, fruit, stock 
and lumber — are the best of their 
kinds on earth and the easiest pro- 
duced. 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



195 



"It is a great truth that 'economy 
of transportation is the chief ele- 
ment in the prosperity of every State 
and nation, and constitutes the 
marked difference between civiliza- 
tion and barbarism.' 

"Therefore, it is that enlightened 
statesmanship should recognize the 
duty, and perform it, of improving 
the navigation of the Mississippi and 
its tributaries, and of the other 
waterways of the country, adequate 
to the demands of an ever-increas- 
ing commerce and the necessities of 
an ever rapidly increasing popula- 
tion. 

"With regard to the Mississippi 
River, this Convention recognizes 
that the duty of the Federal Govern- 
ment towards it is two fold: (1) the 
improvement of the navigation of the 
river, (2) the control of its flood- 
waters to the end that the same may 
not be a terror to those who live in 
the valley of the river. Improve 
the river so as to make of it the best 
possible highway of commerce; pro- 
tect its valley from the flood waters 
precipitated upon it by the rainfall 
of half of the northern part of the 
continent. Control the nation's 
river for the nation's good. 

"Resolved, That we heartily ap- 
prove the enlightened policy which 
in these respects has characterized 
the Congress of the United States in 
the last two decades, and we urge 
upon that body of statesmen the con- 
tinuation of the same. Appropria- 
tions adequate to the quick construc- 
tion of the works needed in our 
rivers and harbors, and the early at- 
tainment of results aimed at, are 
earnestly recommended." 

Mr. Chairman, I move the adoption 
of the report and resolutions. 

The report was adopted. 

Judge Blanchard: "Before vacat- 
ing the floor and before the Conven- 
tion entirely ceases to have its at- 
tention drawn to the question of the 
Mississippi River and its Tributaries, 
I have a proposition to offer at the 
request of my friend, Hon. Andrew 
Price, who is unavoidably absent to- 
night. What Mr. Price proposes is 
this: It is somewhat of a new depar- 
ture, but I believe the Convention 
would be wise in giving its endorse- 



ment to this project. Heretofore, 
we have been entirely dependent on 
the Congress of the United States 
for the improvement of our rivers 
and harbors in this State. This is 
the proposition which merely asks 
that the Congress of the United 
States will permit the State of Louis- 
iana or certain enterprising citizens 
in the State of Louisiana to furnish 
the money for the improvement of 
one of the great waterways of i^e 
State by the locking and damming of 
the Bayou Lafourche. As this is a 
propcsitidn that does not ask money 
from Congress and merely requests 
that this work be done by local agen- 
cies in the State, I think the Con- 
vention would do well to adopt this 
even though it be a local project. 
The resolution is this: Whereas, the 
advisability of improving Bayou La- 
fourche by means of locks has been 
recognized by the engineers both of 
the State of Louisiana and the Na- 
tional Government, and the necessity 
and urgency of constructing these 
locks is so apparent that the Gen- 
eral Assembly of the State of Louis- 
iana at its last regular session by a 
unanimous vote, made provision for 
the construction of said locks with- 
out expense to the Federal Govern- 
ment, and under plans and specifi- 
cations to be approved by the Secre- 
tary of War, provided Congress 
should give authority to the State of 
Louisiana to have said locks con- 
structed. Therefore, be it 

"Resolved, That the Southern In- 
dustrial Convention respectfully 
urges Congress to grant as speedily 
as possible the authority requested 
by the General Assembly of Louis- 
iana. 

"Bear in mind that all these navi- 
gable waterways which are tribu- 
tary to the Mississippi River are un- 
der the Federal Government, and we 
have to obtain the consent of the 
National Government to this pro- 
ject. All that is asked is that Con- 
gress grant a permit that this be 
done under the direction of the Sec- 
retary of War without expense to 
the Federal Government." 

Hon. Dudley Coleman: I want 
this resolution to receive all the con- 
sideration that it should receive, but 



196 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



at the same time it ought to be done 
in an orderly manner. I think the 
proper course is to refer it to the 
Committee on Resolutions. 

This was seconded. 

Mr. Coffin: The Committee on 
Resolutions has been discharged. 
This resolution has been endorsed by 
the people of Louisiana in General 
Assembly. We should not postpone 
it. Let us finish the work, it is well 
begun. 

Mr. Tom L. Cannon: As the Com- 
mittee on Resolutions has been dis- 
charged, I think it is very question- 
able whether it can deal with any 
further business. There have al- 
ready been so many resolutions come 
up for consideration before the Con- 
vention, that I . do not see why it 
should not consider this. I am con- 



fident that the Committee on Reso- 
lutions would endorse it. 

Mr. Story, having explained that 
the Committee on Resolutions had 
been discharged, having finished its 
labors, Mr. Coleman withdrew his 
motion, and the supplemental reso- 
lution relative to Bayou Lafourche 
was adopted without dissent. 

Mr. Story: I move that the selec- 
tion of place for the next Conven- 
tion and the election of officers be 
taken up to-morrow at 11:30 A. M. 

This was adopted. 

Mr. Story announced that the trol- 
ley ride for the ladies would take 
place at 1:30 P. M. on the following 
day. 

The Convention adjourned at 11 
P. M., until 10 A. M. Friday. 



FRIDAY MORNING SESSION. 



Hon. Sidney Story occupied the 
chair and called the fourth day's 
meeting of the Convention to order 
at 10 A. M. Mr. Story introduced 
the venerable Dr. B. M. Palmer, of 
the First Presbyterian Church, New 
Orleans, who offered up prayer. 

Reverend B. M. Palmer called 
down the blessing of the Almighty 
upon the Convention and its work 
in the following terms: 

"Almighty God, our Heavenly 
Father, we adore Thee as our Crea- 
tor and Redeemer and the only Ruler 
over this wonderful universe. Thou 
hast set Thy throne in the heavens 
and ruleth the earth; Thou hast cre- 
ated the universe and defined its 
limits; Thou hast driven out the 
heathen and the barbarian and in 
Thy Divine wisdom hast alotted this 
country to the people thereof as a 
goodly heritage. It is decreed that 
those who have failed to take advan- 
tage of the opportunities which have 
been offered them, the unprogressive 
and the backward, must give place 
in the onward march of civilization. 
We ask especially at this time Thy 
blessing on us Thy people; Thou 
didst provide this vast domain for 
us and we bless Thee that the little 
seed of Christianity which was 
planted in this country has grown 
until this vast continent has become 



the abode of a mighty Christian na- 
tion. It is with a deep conviction 
of these truths that we Thy servants 
are here assembled this morning. We 
implore Thy presence, although it 
be invisible, upon the deliberations 
of the delegates to this Convention, 
so that everything they do may re- 
dound with honor to Thee and be 
beneficial to our prosperity; so that 
every homestead may be enriched 
thereby. Be Thou the Inspirer of 
every thought and every plan out- 
lined here; may the people now and 
those who come after them in turn 
realize their manifold duties and re- 
sponsibilities and perform them, and 
if there be any worm at the root of 
our prosperity wilt Thou enable us 
to expose and extirpate it. 

"Oh God! be Thou also the God of 
our decendents and bless them 
abundantly. We pray that those who 
come after us may fulfill their obli- 
gations and thus increase the pros- 
perity of this mighty nation and of 
these great Southern States, and all 
this we ask in the name of the God 
of nations and to His honor and 
glory, through Jesus Christ, our 
Lord. Amen." 

Secretary N. F. Thompson: I 
would like to have the consent of 
this Convention to send a telegram 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7 1900. 



19' 



to the New York World calling at- 
tention to the fact that although the 
Associated Press was invited to send 
a representative to furnish a report 
of the proceedings of this Conven- 
tion, they had failed to do so. The 
telegram is as follows: 

"New Orleans, December 7th. 
"Manager New York World: 

"The Southern Industrial Conven- 
tion now in session in this city and 
the largost gathering of its kind 
ever held in the country, instructs 
me to inquire if your failure to no- 
tice its proceedings is due to your 
own omission or of the Associated 



Press to furnish a report of the same. 
"N. F. THOMPSON, Secretary." 

Chairman Story: The reason for 
desiring to send this message is that 
the "World" has entirely ignored the 
proceedings of this Convention, al- 
though the Associated Press agreed 
to have a representative present, and 
as it is desirable that this Associa- 
tion should make its objects as 
widely known as possible, it would 
be well to take notice of this matter. 

It was moved and seconded that 
the telegram be sent, and this agreed 
to. 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY OF THE SOUTH. 

BY HON. JOHN DYMOND. 



Chairman Story: I now have the 
pleasure of introducing to you a gen- 
tleman who is well known authority 
upon the subject in regard to which 
he will address you, the Hon. John 
Dymond of this city, who will speak 
upon Sugar Industry in the South. 

Hon. John Dymond then read the 
following paper: 

THE SUGAR INDUSTRY OP THE 
SOUTH. 

"The subject allotted for discus- 
sion at this time is one of great 
importance to us in this State, in 
fact is of national and even interna- 
tonal importance, and it is rarely 
that the opportunity presents itself 
to discuss it before a body of such 
representative men as we have here 
to-day. The sugar industry every- 
where to-day is largely the subject 
of legislation, each of the great na- 
tions of the earth endeavoring to fos- 
ter the industry, believing that the 
advantages, direct and indirect, aris- 
ing from its development will more 
than compensate for any charges 
that it may make upon the public 
revenues. The sugar industry of the 
South has felt the effect of this leg- 
islation, and its struggles for an ex- 
istence during the last generation, 
and its more rapid recent develop- 
ment we may consider later on. 

"The enormous increase in beet 
sugar production in Europe during 
the last thirty years, its total now 



largely exceeding that of cane sugar 
in the rest of the world, has excited 
general inquiry into the cause of 
this wonderful development of an in- 
dustry that has always been consid- 
ered an agricultural one, and while 
the history of this industry covers 
the whole of the 19th century, it is 
only during the last third of it that 
it has made such tremendous strides. 
The causes of this rapid progress lie 
in the present disposition of every 
one engaged in industrial enterprise 
to probe every physical problem to 
the bottom, to ascertain whether or 
not better methods may be adopted, 
improved mechanism utilized, and 
better results in quantity and quality 
obtained. In other words, technical 
education has been the chief cause 
of the great development of the sugar 
industry, and necessity has led the 
cane sugar countries of the world to 
follow the beet sugar countries in 
the same direction, and we to-day 
find everywhere that sugar is pro- 
duced, the industry is being more 
and more closely scanned, economies 
are being effected, improvements are 
being made all along the line, and 
in the end it is believed by those 
most familiar with the matter that 
the sugar cane will re-assert its lead- 
ing position, and again become the 
leading sugar producer of the world. 
"As all progress must be in the 
direction of the least resistance, we 
may readily imagine that capital and 



198 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



enterprise will engage themselves 
in such directions as promise the 
greatest renumeration. Fifty or 
seventy-five years ago the cane sugar 
industry was far more widely spread 
in the South than it is now. The 
ribbon cane now cultivated to such 
a great extent in Louisiana, was 
brought here some seventy years ago 
from Savannah, where its culture 
had already been made a success. 
Even since the war, open kettle 



sugars were made in at least one 
sugar house in North Carolina. Our 
sister State of Texas has been mak- 
ing common sugars tor over half a 
century, although only coming con- 
spicuously forward in the higher 
grades during recent years. Florida 
was quite a sugar producing State 
before the civil war, and the ruins 
of abandoned sugar houses can be 
found there now, their tall brick 
chimneys and walls standing as 




HON. JOHN DYMOND. 



monuments of an industry that has 
passed away. 

"I am led to present these fea- 
tures of tne case to you as an ex- 
planation of the restriction of the 
development of the Southern sugar 
industry to the State of Louisiana, 



and in that State to the Southern 
tier of parishes. The cane sugar in- 
dustry in its earlier history was at 
times quite a profitable one, and our 
sugar planters' were led to fear that 
even our central cotton parishes 
would engage in the sugar industry; 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



199 



that the sugar market would become 
over supplied and prices depressed, 
and they were quite willing to have 
but a moderate duty imposed on for- 
eign sugars, in order to hold the 
prices of sugar sufficiently low to 
diminish the inducement that seemed 
to present itself to the cotton plan- 
ters to change from that culture to 
the culture of sugar* cane. Sugar 
frequently sold at very low prices 
before the civil war, and yet it was 
produced so cheaply that its average 
status was one of continuing growth, 
subjected, of course, to climatic vi- 
cissitudes. 

"Along the Northern limit of our 
cane growing territory in the rest of 
the Southern States as well as in 
Louisiana, the option existed of en- 
gaging in cotton culture as well as 
in cane culture, and there was no 
inducement to engage in cane culture 
excepting the industry was more 
lucrative than that of cotton. It 
was found that to engage in the 
sugar industry was to engage in a 
comparatively complex business, one 
that involved manufacturing pro- 
cesses as well as a very high order 
of agriculture, and methods of cul- 
ture considerably different from 
those applied to the cotton plant. 
Cotton planters therefore who con- 
sidered the matter of changing to tne 
sugar cane industry found them- 
selves confronted with these serious 
problems, a lack of knowledge of 
the new industry, and perhaps a 
lack of capital to cover the large 
outlay required. These retarding in- 
fluences prevented the development 
of the sugar industry along the bor- 
der lines where either cotton or cane 
could be readily cultivated. In 
Georgia and South Carolina the rice 
industry in the low lands became 
dominant, and it was sufficiently 
profitable to engage the capital and 
agricultural talent of the country 
there. 

"In this connection we may say 
that the inquiry has often been 
made as to why the United States 
should not produce sufficient cane 
sugar to supply the whole country, 
if, as we have claimed, we had more 
than enough land on which to cul- 
tivate the cane, and that the indus- 
try could be made profitable on the 



basis of present values and of our 
knowledge of the industry. There 
can be no answer to this inquiry ex- 
cepting that the capital and talent 
of the country exert themselves in 
whatever direction may promise the 
most lucrative results, and in the 
Southern States while cotton and 
rice brought satisfactory results 
there was but little inducement to 
the Southern cultivator to engage in 
the more complex sugar industry. 
It was only when cotton fell to such 
low prices as to be unremunerative 
that the cotton planter began to look 
into the merits of the sugar industry 
with a view of engaging therein. 
These influences have held the in- 
dustry in check and its development 
has been disappointing to many of 
our leading statesmen and financiers. 
No matter what the reason was, the 
facts evident were that the sugar 
industry of the Southern States had 
not developed as had many of our 
other industries. 

"In regard to its more recent de- 
velopment, one of the causes which 
while hardly apparent on the sur- 
face, that has been the most potent 
in giving an impetus to the sugar 
industry, has been the separation of 
the agricultural from the manufac- 
turing side of the industry. The fac- 
tory and the farm have now become 
to a great extent two separate fac- 
tors in the sugar problem in the 
Southern States. Up to a few years 
back a cane cultivator had no mar- 
ket for his sugar cane. To-day, 
dozens of central factories are quite 
willing to buy sugar cane from any 
producer's who may be reached by 
them. This is bringing into the 
sugar industry year by year hun- 
dreds of those formerly in no wise 
connected with it. The central fac- 
tory system is really the foundation 
of the recent development of the 
sugar industry in Louisiana, and will 
doubtless be the basis, and the only 
basis on which it can be successfully 
developed in the rest of the South- 
ern States. 

"To-day, a man with five acres 
of land, or ten, or twenty, or one 
hundred, or a thousand may engage 
in the cultivation of sugar cane and 
find a reasonably near and profitaole 
market for his cane. A few years 



200 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



back this was simply impossible, and 
cultivators would not grow sugar 
cane unless they owned sugar 
houses. But a few days ago one of 
the largest sugar houses in this 
State, the Meeker sugar nouse, in 
Rapides Parish, was destroyed by 
fire. It had contracts for thousands 
of tons of sugar cane in the vicinity, 
and after the disaster these cane 
growers found an immediate market 
for their cane in the adjoining par- 
ishes where large sugar houses were 
quite willing to take all that came 
to them. 

The real difficulty in developing 
the sugar industry in the Southern 
States outside of those districts 
wherein it is thoroughly domiciled 
and comparatively successful, is 
that of procuring a competent sup- 
ply of sugar cane, and then, in turn, 
procuring adequate manufacturing 
facilities. Thousands of little cane 
mills are in use along the Gulf 
coast, all the way from Florida to 
Texas. These little mills all repre- 
sent cane crops of one, two, three 
four, or five acres, and much, if not 
most of the molasses and syrup used 
in the Gulf States is made by these 
little local cane mills. This shows 
that sugar cane is to-day quite an 
industry, but carried on in a very 
small way by thousands, and in 
fact tens of thousands of farmers in 
the Gulf States. The time was when 
wheat was cultivated in the same 
way, and was carried to the little 
neighboring mills to oe there con- 
verted into flour, which was Drought 
back by the farmers iur home con- 
sumption. Just as the great flour 
mills have superseded the old grist 
mills, just so the central factory in 
the Gulf States can, and ought to 
supersede the tens of thousands of 
little home mills that are now do- 
ing good, but still imperfect work in 
their manupulation of sugar cane. 
To bring about this requires in- 
creased knowledge of the business, 
and to this the various experiment 
stations of the Gulf States are now 
giving considerable attention. The 
Sugar Experiment Station of Louis- 
iana, we believe, is now leading the 
world in scientific investigation of 
sugar. The State of Texas has made 
very marked advances, and Florida, 



with vast possibilities in the way 
of sugar production, is giving it some 
attention, but thus far has not made 
any very marked progress. In 
Georgia, South and North Carolina, 
where sugar cane was once culti- 
vated, we hear to-day but little or 
nothing of its culture, excepting in 
the very small horsemill way. The 
same will apply to Alabama and 
Mississippi. These States have such 
vast resources in the way of produc- 
ing cotton, and in fact such a prac- 
tical monopoly of the cotton market 
of the world, that they have but 
little inducement to diversify their 
culture in the way of producing 
sugar cane, their natural course be- 
ing rather in the way of diversifica- 
tion for home supplies and cotton 
as a surplus crop, rather than to 
engage in the complex sugar indus- 
try. Yet the time may come, and in 
fact I believe it will come, when 
sugar will be produced in large quan- 
tities in latitudes far north of where 
it is now profitably cultivated. 

"The Southern States of our Union 
have some advantages in producing 
this tropical crop over even the 
tropics themselves. All experience 
has shown that the greatest difficulty 
experienced in the tropics is that 
of controlling labor, and the devel- 
opment of the sugar industry in the 
tropics was based upon slavery, 
without which the industry, in prac- 
tically every instance, has fallen 
into decay. The present anticipation 
of an enormous production of sugar 
in Cuba at a comparatively early 
date may be verified, but the labor 
problem is one that will have to 
be solved successfully if the enor- 
mous crops anticipated in that is- 
land are ever to be harvested. In 
these Southern States the climate is 
sufficiently cold to develop all of our 
American energy and enterprise; to 
require the expenditure of consider- 
able amounts of money for food and 
clothing, as well as housing, and yet 
the climate is sufficiently warm to 
produce some tropical and semi- 
tropical crops. These characteris- 
tics of our climate make it necessary 
for those living here to labor in 
order to protect themselves. Nature 
is not so bounteous as in the tropics, 
where food and clothing may come 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1000. 



201 



without cost. Here earnest effort is 
necessary to keep soul and body to- 
gether, and hence we have a very 
material advantage in the control 
that this gives us over the labor 
question. 

"Another feature of the Southern 
sugar industry that demands care- 
ful attention is the, fact that the 
sugar cane is a plant that utilizes 
more thoroughly the semi-tropical 
resources that we have in the way 
of sunshine, rainfall and fertile soil, 
than any other crop. In the trop- 
ics the cane plant requires from 12 
to 18 months to complete its growth. 
In these Southern States the cane 
plant, as we know, will thrive as 
far north as Natchitoches in this 
State, and Montgomery in Alabama, 
and in North Carolina, on the At- 
lantic coast, and will grow through- 
out the entire season, utilizing 
every unit of heat and sunshine that 
our climate grants it, and also util- 
izing the great rainfall that charac- 
terizes our coast country. There is 
no other crop, excepting that of rice, 
which so nearly utilizes the re- 
sources of our country. Rice, how- 
ever, is a short lived crop, and while 
it is generally an annual crop, it 
can be planted and harvested within 
four or five months, while the sugar 
cane utilizes all of our natural ad- 
vantages during eignt or ten months 
of the year. This is really a far 
more important point than most per- 
sons believe, and it is the underlying 
reason for the persistence of the 
sugar cane industry of Louisiana 
and the other States notwithstanding 
the record of misfortunes that have 
befallen it for a generation. 

"The sugar industry of the South 
is in no wise jealous of its newly 
fledged neighbor in the North. The 
beet sugar industry in the United 
States is bound to develop enormous- 
ly, and this at an early date, and 



we who are engaged in the sugar in- 
dustry in the South welcome into 
the field with us this new industry 
of the North and West, knowing as 
we do the many things that we hold 
in common, our common interests, 
the many points at which our in- 
dustry is the same, and while aiding 
beet sugar as we do to-day by sending 
them our experts, who are engaged in 
many of their sugar factories at the 
present time, we only ask from them 
in return co-operation on all matters 
that are for our common good. 

"Our friends who are engaged in 
the beet sugar industry in the West 
are experiencing some of the diffi- 
culties that would attach to the de- 
velopment of a new industry in these 
Southern States. A sugar factory 
located, for instance, near Mobile or 
Pensacola, would find itself with 
but a very limited supply of sugar 
cane, and yet there are hundreds of 
cane farmers not many miles from 
Mobile and Pensacola, who have to- 
day one, two, three or five acres of 
good healthy sugar cane growing in 
their fields. These people are bound 
to come together in time, but only 
when their other great industries 
become less lucrative than now. 
Should the price of cotton be main- 
tained during some years to come, 
then we look for a very limited de- 
velopment of the sugar industry in 
the adjacent Southern States. On 
the other hand, should four cent cot- 
ton again become the rule, the feel- 
ing of unrest among the cotton 
planters would lead them to turn 
their attention in other directions, 
hoping for better results, ana one of 
the directions in which we invite 
them to look, and a direction which 
promises reasonably profitable re- 
sults, is the growing of sugar cane 
and the manufacture of the cane 
into sugar." (Applause.) 



ADDRESS BY MR. GEO. H. ANDERSON. 



Chairman Story: Mr. Geo. H. An- 
derson, of the Pittsburg Chamber 
of Commerce, is with us and we 
shall be glad to hear from him at 
this time. 

Mr. Geo. H. Anderson: "Mr. 



Chairman and Gentlemen of the Con- 
vention: The Pittsburg delegation 
has come here with the idea that it 
may learn something from our 
friends of the Southern Industrial 
Association, and to give them an as- 



202 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention,- 



surance of the hearty sympathy that 
our city has with the objects of this 
convention. We came in order that 
we might be able to take back with 
us valuable information touching the 
general industrial industries cf the 
country, and if we in our experience 
and knowledge acquired by a 
long period of activity in in- 
dustrial pursuits, have gained any 
knowledge that might be useful to 
our friends in the South, that infor- 
mation should be freely placed at 
their disposal. 

"I admire every man who loves his 
home and his section, city or coun- 
try. I have the warmest feeling and 
affection for my own city that any 
man could possibly have for his 
home, for there is much in Pittsburg 
that any man may well be proud of. 
Our city has reached a point in her 
industrial growth where the whole 
world pays tribute to her produc- 
tions. The traffic last year in tqn- 
nage was in excess of that of both 
London and Liverpool combined; 
it was equally great with that of the 
Atlantic coast. The amount as offi- 
cially ascertained being sixty million 
tons. Our city is now the center of a 
population of 800,000 people, and it 
must not be inferred because we are 
an extremely busy people that we in 
any way forget the nobler and higher 
duties of humanity or are neglectful 
of intellectual advancement. To 
show the sentiment of the people of 
Pittsburg towards tne people of the 
South. I am glad to inform you that 
the Chamber of Commerce met the 
day following the news of the terri- 
ble disaster that overtook the City 
of Galveston. It was agreed before- 
hand that in advance of all subscrip- 
tions the treasurer snould forward 
by telegraph at once the sum of $10,- 
000.00 for the relief of that city. 
(Applause.) Just at this time,' one 
of the leading manufacturers of our 
city came up to the desk and laid 
down the check of his firm for $10,- 
000.00. (Applause.) It would seem 
to me that in this there is more sen- 
timent than simply a desire to in- 
crease our manufactures, enlarge our 
business pursuits and build up the 
prosperity of our city. The commit- 
tee in charge did not make a sin- 
gle personal solicitation for relief 



for Galveston. They simply sent out 
an appeal to the public asking that 
contributions should be sent without 
delay into the treasury of the Cam- 
ber of Commerce and within a very 
short time nearly $60,000.00 was re- 
ceived in cash and was forwarded to 
Galveston. (Applause.) I do not 
relate this in a boastful spirit, but 
merely to show just how the people 
of Pittsburg were moved towards 
those of our Southern frienas who 
were in distress. (Applause., 

"Take another instance, some time 
ago when the passage or' the Bads 
channel into the Gulf of Mexico was 
in danger of being closed and the 
commerce of your city endangered, 
New Orleans desired the Government 
to make an appropriation for the 
. purpose of repairing her gateway to 
the sea which had been obstructed, 
and the City of Pittsburg was asked 
to co-operate in securing the neces- 
sary appropriation from Washington 
to repair the damage. Pittsburg not 
only responded by sending her citi- 
zens to co-operate with New Orleans 
in securing the appropriation, but 
joined in asking mat a special ap- 
propriation be made for the survey 
of the Southwest Pass, which, if 
completed, would give New Orleans 
a second outlet to the Gulf of Mexi- 
co and through it an opening to the 
markets of the world. (Applause.) 
Our people made common cause witn 
those of the South, and the result 
was an advance appropriation of 
$250,000.00 for the repair of Eads 
channel, and an additional one pro- 
vided for the survey of the South- 
west Pass. (Applause.) So you see, 
Mr. Chairman, that Pittsburg can 
lay aside at times her devotion to 
business affairs to give what help 
she can in securing prosperity to 
more remote portions of our country. 
(Applause.) 

"New Orleans and the people of the 
South generally are quite as largely 
interested in the improvement of the 
upper Ohio river as are the people 
of that section. Pittsburg coal is 
brought to New Orleans, a distance 
of 2,000 miles, at a cost of one-half 
mill per ton for each mile, or a total 
of 10 cents per ton, and no railroad 
can ever compete with the river as 
a means of transportation. The Ohio 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, igoo. 



203 



and the Mississippi rivers are the 
great natural arteries through which 
our commerce, which is nie life's 
blood of the nation, passes, and it 
is of the utmost importance that 
these arteries should be kept open 
and unobstructed, so that the traffic 
they bear shall be delivered at the 
lowest rates of transportation and in 
the speediest manner. ' 

"Mr. Chairman, I shall not talk 
politics to you any further than is 
required to assure you that without 
the hearty co-operation of the peo- 
ple of the great Northeast and of 
the Northwest you in your particular 
section can look for no special fa- 
vors in the way of national legisla- 
tion such as is desired to foster and 
enlarge the productive interests of 
the South, but when you go to Con- 
gress with united forces of these 
various sections and explain the ne- 
cessity of giving that which enriches 
the country at large, no congres- 
sional interest can stand against a 
united and forceful plea of that kind. 
The complete interdependence of 
your section of the country with that 
of the upper Ohio district is such that 
neither can operate successfully in 
the development of their industrial 
interests without the complete co- 
operation of the other. When the 
commercial history of this country 
is written it will be the history of 
the valleys of the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi. To-day it is the greatest pro- 
ductive center of the world. The 
colossal export trade of this country 
is largely from traffic originating 
in the upper Ohio district, the na- 
tural outlet of which is through the 
' rivers of the Ohio and Mississippi, 
and through New Orleans to the 
Gulf. With the people of this coun- 
try it is a question of cheap trans- 
portation rather than a ques.-on of 
cheap manufacture which latter 
could only be reached by paying our 
people the pauper wages received Dy 
the working classes of the older 
countries. Two cargoes of rails went 
from Pittsburg to Liverpool within 
the last month and coal from tae 
City of Pittsburg has been exported 
not only into England but to nearly 
all continental Europe. 

"Great as our commerce is now, an 
enormous impetus will be given to 



it by the opening of the Nicaragua 
canal. England has made herself 
great by her enterprise in extending 
her commercial interests and Eng- 
land struck a great blow at Ameri- 
can manufacturers when she built 
the Suez canal. The United States 
must realize the importance of the 
Nicaragua canal and confer a like 
boon upon her people. (Applause.) 
With the isthmian canal twelve 
thousand miles will be saved on the 
trip to San Francisco and it will 
open up a vast and world-wide com- 
merce so the people of this country 
must be united in a demand for the 
speedy construction of this canal. 
Pittsburg has been depleting its coal 
mines but in following the coal line 
it leads into Alabama, for coal is 
the thing that we have in unlimited 
supply. As industrial work in Eng- 
land increases so does the supply 
of coal diminish and they cannot 
supply the demand at eight dollars 
a ton, the result being that English 
manufacturers are sending agents 
here to see where they can buy coal. 
In Italy the conditions are even 
worse, but the United States can 
supply the world at a price that will 
make the people rich. It almost 
seems as if the Creator had supplied 
this country with such unlimited re- 
sources as to make the whole world 
tributary to it. 

"To return to the subject of the 
Nicaragua canal, I would say that 
there seems to be a general senti- 
ment in this country for Government 
control and ownership of the isth- 
mian canal. This gives rise to the 
question when we have the canal 
what will we do with it? We have 
but few merchant vessels and under 
such conditions we would be building 
the canal for the convenience of 
other nations. It is therefore neces- 
sary that we should increase our 
shipping and unless the Governnicnl 
takes the necessary steps to furnish 
an efficient merchant marine capi- 
talists will not put their money into 
American ships. In this connection, 
I may say that I am more than 
pleased at the reception which has 
been given to this sentiment by the 
convention, for if this object is to 
be accomplished it must be by some 
such means as the ship subsidy bill. 



204 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention 



"In conclusion, ladies and gentle- you for your kind consideration and 
men of the convention, I must thank attention." (Loud Applause.) 

LETTER FROM WU TING FANG. 



Secretary Thompson then read the 
following letter which he had re- 
ceived from His Excellency Wu Ting 
Fang, the Chinese Minister, who had 
been invited to attend the conven- 
tion: 

"Chinese Legation, 
Washington, Dec. 5, 1900. 
"N. F. Thompson, Esq., Secretary 
Southern Industrial Convention, 
New Orleans, La.: 

"Dear Sir: I am m receipt of your 
letter of the 1st instant. I can only 
repeat my sincere regret that, owing 
to unusual pressure of official busi- 
ness, I am unable to attend your con- 
vention. 

"I find that the export trade of 
the United States with China in 
1899 has increased 337 per cent as 



compared with that in 1895, thus 
showing clearly what a great field 
China is for American enterprise. 
The products of the Southern States 
of the United States, especially cot- 
ton, can always find a ready market 
in China. Statistics show that China 
took last year in round numbers $9,- 
000,000 worth of cotton goods from 
the United States — more than Eu- 
rope, South America, Canada and 
Mexico, all put together. I sincerely 
hope that the trade between the two 
countries will increase even in a 
greater ratio in the future than it 
has dene in the past. 

"Wishing that success will attend 
the efforts of your convention, I am, 
very truly yours, 

WU TING FANG," 



REPORT OF HON. V. W. GRUBBS, ON EDUCATION. 



Mr. V. W. Grubbs (of Texas), 
president of the Southern Board of 
Education; submitted the following 
report on the educational condition 
of the South: 

"On the 20th day of January, 1899, 
there was- introduced in the Texas 
Legislature the following resolu- 
tions • 

" 'Resolved, That the object of the 
State in the establishment and main- 
tenance of public free schools is the 
preparation and qualification of the 
children of both sexes to become 
personally independent and self-sup- 
porting, and that any system of pub- 
lic education which fails in the ac- 
complishment of such object and 
purpose is inherently defective. 

" 'Resolved, That a necessity exists 
for the training of our young people 
of both sexes in the elementary prin- 
ciples of agriculture, mechanism 
rnd domestic economy, and to this 
end provision should be made for 
such training in the public schools. 

" 'Resolved, That industrial 
schools for boys and girls should be 
established in every portion of the 
State so far as practicable, and that 



farmers' institutes should be legal- 
ized and encouraged in such counties 
and sections as may be deemed ne- 
cessary and practicable for the gen- 
eral diffusion of agricultural and 
kindred sciences among the farming 
and industrial population of this 
State.' 

"On the 23d day of said month, the 
following resolutions were introduced 
by the same member of that body: 

" 'Resolved, That in the enactment 
of laws for the government of the 
people of Texas and for the promo- 
tion of their interests in all depart- 
ments and stations in life, no dis- 
tinction should be made on account 
of sex, and that the same opportuni- 
ties, preparation and encouragement 
should be given to the female as to 
the male portion of our citizenship. 

" 'Resolved, That any industrial 
system which discriminates against 
the women of Texas in the matter 
of wages for efficient services ren- 
dered is unjust, and ought to be abro- 
gated by law. 

" 'Resolved, That equal facilities 
should be given to both sexes for the 
attainment of a knowledge of those 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



205 



arts and sciences which are essential 
to independent and useful citizen- 
ship, and that an industrial college 
or colleges should be established and 
maintained for the benefit of girls 
in Texas.' 

"While no action was taken by the 
Legislature on these resolutions, 
their publication in the daily and 
weekly press of the State with favor- 
able comment set in motion a wave 
of popular approval not anticipated 
by their author. A bill was soon 
thereafter introduced to establish an 
industrial college for the white girls 
of Texas, and other bills in line with 
the sentiment pervading the resolu- 
tions were introduced at the same 
session. Without going into the his- 
tory of the fight made for the pro- 
posed educational reform, suffice it 
to say that the interest thereby 
awakened led, as above stated, to 
the formation of a State committee 
to carry on an active" and vigorous 
campaign among the people of the 
State in behalf of the proposed meas- 
ures, and I am gratified to report 
that the Democratic party has incor- 
porated into its platform a plank 
favoring such education, and there 
is no doubt that the Legislature to 
meet in January next will promptly 
and liberally respond to the platform 
demand on that subject. The sub- 
ject of industrial education in its 
application to the Southern States 
was made a topic for discussion at 
the first meeting of this Convention 
at Huntsville, Ala., in October of 
last year, and the idea of an organi- 
zation embracing the entire South 
was then suggested, but nothing 
further was attempted at that time. 
"At its next meeting, held at Chat- 
tanooga, Tenn., the subject was 
again discussed: Hon. Cyrus Kehr 
of Knoxville, Hon. H. H. Hargrove, 
now president of the Convention, 
and Hon. James Wilson, Secretary 
of the Department of Agriculture, 
taking a part in tke same. In re- 
sponse to what seemed to be the pre- 
vailing sentiment on the subject, the 
following resolutions were intro- 
duced and referred to the committee 
on education raised by the Conven- 
tion: 
" 'Resolved, That ' every State 
should provide an efficient system of 



public education to the end that its 
intellectual, moral and industrial re- 
sources may be developed and util- 
ized to the fullest possible extent. 

" 'Resolved, That the education of 
the South has heretofore tended en- 
tirely too much toward those profes- 
sions, occupations and callings which 
do not require manual labor, and to 
lead the aspirations of our young 
people away from industrial pur- 
suits and into the overcrowded pro- 
fessions which are unduly exalted in 
a social point of view, while the in- 
dustrial pursuits, however useful and 
indispensable to the social well be- 
ing, are socially degraded. 

" 'Resolved, That a system of edu- 
cation to be efficient in such devel- 
opment must embrace physical and 
industrial as well as intellectual and 
moral training, and that any system 
that ignores such physical and in- 
dustrial training as applied to both 
sexes is inherently defective. 

" 'Resolved, That the right in high 
social recognition should not depend 
so much on arbitrary class distinc- 
tions, based upon differences of oc- 
cupations, which are alike useful and 
necessary as upon intelligence, per- 
sonal integrity and merited success 
in the pursuit of sucb useful profes- 
sion, occupation or calling. 

" 'Resolved, That the time has 
come in the industrial progress of 
the South when those false notions 
of respectability inspired and fos- 
tered by prevailing educational sys- 
tems, which lead the young mind to 
despise manual labor, should be ut- 
terly destroyed, and that the South- 
ern youth should be educated rather 
for industrial than for professional, 
literary and commercial pursuits.' 

"That committee made the follow- 
ing report after a careful considera- 
tion of the matters submitted to tbem 
by the original resolution and other- 
wise: 

" 'We regard the proper education 
of the youth as of the highest im- 
portance, and urge upon the States 
represented in this body the develop- 
ment and improvement of their sys- 
tems of public schools to the highest 
possible degree of efficiency. 

" 'We specially recommend that 
provisions should be made for the 
thorough training of the young peo- 



206 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



pie of the South in useful and profit- 
able industry, embracing the science 
of agriculture, mechanical arts and 
domestic economy. We would espe- 
cially emphasize the necessity of pre- 
paring in that way our youth to 
operate the machinery which is be- 
ing introduced into the South for the 
manufacture of its raw materials in- 
to more valuable finished products. 
We are gratified to know the present 
tendency in education to meet the 
practical demands of the times, and 
to direct the aspirations of our youth 
toward the attainment of skillfulness 
and proficiency in industrial pursuits. 

" 'While we would not in any way 
detract from the importance of what 
is termed the higher education, nor 
to depreciate the splendid work of 
our leading educators in that line, 
we urge upon the educators of the 
South a special effort in behalf of a 
more general and comprehensive sys- 
tem of industrial education. 

" 'We further recommend the es- 
tablishment of a textile university 
and of industrial schools wherever 
practicable. 

" 'We recommend that an organ- 
ization be now formed by this con- 
vention to be styled -'The Southern 
Board of Industrial Education," to 
consist .of one member from each of 
the following States: Virginia, West 
Virginia, North Carolina, South Ca- 
rolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, 
Missouri, Maryland, Kentucky, Geor- 
gia, Texas and other States as may 
hereafter desire to come into this 
movement. 

" 'The work of said board shall be 
the awakening of a sentiment favor- 
able to industrial education through- 
out the Southern States in such man- 
ner as the board may adopt. We 
recommend that one member of said 
board be appointed Dy the chairman 
of this convention as temporary pres- 
ident thereof, to serve until the first 
meeting of said board, when tne 
members thereof shall permanently 
organize the same as they may deem 
best for the accomplishment of the 
purposes in view. 

" 'We recommend that provisions 
should be made by said board for the 
admission of other States into said 
organized movement on application 



thereof by competent authority em- 
anating from the people of such 
States. 

" 'We recommend the able papers 
and published addresses of Messrs. 
Kehr, Hargrove and others, touching 
upon the subject of industrial educa- 
tion, to the careful perusal and con- 
sideration of the Southrn people, and 
recommend that they be preserved 
and transmitted to said board, and 
that they be embraced in the litera- 
ture that may be published under 
its direction. 

" 'All persons who may feel inter- 
ested in this movement are cordially 
invited to communicate with the 
board and contribute what they can. 
to the success of the same.' 

"Pursuant to the suggestion con- 
tained in the report of the commit- 
tee the president of the convention 
made the following appointments to 
serve as members of the board: 

"V. W. Grubbs, president, Green- 
ville Tex.; Cyrus Kehr, secretary, 
Knoxville, Tenn.; W. J. Northern, 
Atlanta, Ga.; J. N. Sheets, Gaines- 
ville, Fla.; A. A. Kincannon, Colum- 
bus, Miss.; Sidney Story, New Or- 
leans, La.; Julius D. Dreher, Salem, 
Va.; Daniel Gilman, Baltimore, Md.; 
J. W. Abercromble, Montgomery, 
Ala.; C. M. Woodward, St. Louis, 
Mo.; W. A. McCorkle, Charleston, 
W Va.; T. D. Mclvor, Greensboro, 
N C; Ben R. Tilman, Trenton, S. 
C; Frank Hill, Little Rock, Ark.; 
E. H. Mark, Louisville, Ky. 

"It was my purpose to call a 
meeting of the board, to be held at 
Charleston, S. C., in July last, in 
connection with the National Teach- 
ers' Association, but I was unable to 
make satisfactory arrangements for 
the same and to secure a fair at- 
tendance of the membership, and de- 
cided to postpone the same until the 
meeting of the convention in this 
city. I completed the temporary or- 
ganization of the board by the ap- 
pointment of Hon. Cyrus Kehr, one 
of its members, as secretary thereof, 
and as I have been quite busy look- 
ing personally after the work in 
Texas, the details of this meeting 
were committed to him. I regret, 
that important business elsewhere 
prevents his attendance upon this 
occasion. I sincerely regret my in- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



20T 



ability to give an outline or synopsis 
of the work in other States, having 
received no data from other mem- 
bers of the board on which to formu- 
late such report, but I trust that the 
members who are present will sup- 
plement this report by giving to this 
convention such information in re- 
gard to the same ap they may deem 
of interest to the movement. 

"I am gratified to state that the 
movement in my own State is mak- 
ing very satisfactory progress. The 
broad gauged press and the progres- 
sive citizenship of Texas, regardless 
of sex or class distinction, are vig- 
orously co-operating together in 
arousing our people to the necessity 
of the proposed educational reform. 
The teachers are indorsing it in 
their country, district and State as- 
sociations. Church conferences and 
State associations are doing the same 
thing whenever the subject is 
brought to their attention. 

"Industrial conventions, commer- 
cial organizations and press associa- 
tions are giving to the movement 
their most hearty and vigorous in- 
dorsement and approval. 

"The fight in Texas is practically 
won, and skilled legislators are now 
engaged, at the request of our State 
committee, in the preparation of bills 
for the inauguration of a comprehen- 
sive system of industrial education 
in Texas. We realize, however, that 
it is a great undertaking, and it will 
take years to perfect it, but it will 
most certainly be accomplished as 
rapidly as possible in view of present 
conditions. 

"I am gratified to learn, from unof- 
ficial sources, that the sentiment fav- 
orable to that system of education 
adapted to the development of the in- 
dustrial capacities of the people is 
rapidly growing in many other States 
within the jurisdiction and influence 
of the board. We look forward to the 
time when the social prejudice 
against individual effort in all useful 
lines will be effectually destroyed and 
the true objects and purposes of pub- 
lic education shall be recognized in 
the South. 

"I beg to submit, in conclusion, a 



few recommendations, addressed not 
only to the board, but to all of the 
Southern people who may feel any 
interest in the work. The organiza- 
tion should be extended to every sec- 
tion of the Southern States. Local 
committees should be appointed, 
charged with directing the campaign 
among the people of all classes and 
conditions. The folly of instilling in- 
to the mind of the Southern youth 
the false idea that manual labor is 
degrading and beneath their aspira- 
tions should be rebuked by the press, 
the pulpit and the thoughtful peo- 
ple, who must readily see its demor- 
alizing results. 

"The progressive womanhood oft 
the South should be enlisted in the 
work, and it is needless for me to 
say that when the women fully re- 
solve that anything must be done 
all opposition immediately melts 
away. Another potent factor in the 
accomplishment of the proposed re- 
form is the vigorous co-operation of 
the teachers of the South, and, in so 
far as my knowledge extends, the 
great majority of them are in sym- 
pathy with the movement. In the 
appointment of committees, that 
great and most important profession 
should be duly recognized, and wher- 
ever at all practicable, the broad- 
gauged, progressive educators of the * 
country should be given the prefer- 
ence, as their calling and inclina- 
tions are more likely to lead them 
into the active service of the board. 

"You will find the press a most 
valuable instrumentality for reach- 
ing the people, and its leading rep- 
resentatives will be found at all 
times anxious to contribute to the 
success of the movement. 

"Finally, I may say that the de- 
tails of work in each State are com- 
mitted to its member of the board,, 
and, without interference with his 
plans and purposes, he may with con- 
fidence apply to the president for 
advice or suggestions on the sub- 
ject, so long, at least, as it may be 
the pleasure of the board and this 
Convention for me to hold that hon- 
orable place in the organization." 



208 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



REMARKS AND RESOLUTIONS. 



Mr. Kidd (of Houston) spoke of the 
services rendered to industrial edu- 
cation by Mr. Andrew Carnegie, and 
of his munificent donations towards 
promoting that cause. 

Ex-Mayor Kennedy (of Allegheny, 
Pa.,) rose to make a motion. He 
said: 

"Mr. Chairman, and ladies and 
gentlemen of the Convention: When 
our delegation arrived in the City 
of New Orleans, we knew no one, 
being entire strangers in the city, 
but we were invited to the ladies' 
reception, where, in a few minutes, 
we were made to feel as much at 
home as ever we were, and I can 
say for myself and others that 
we never enjoyed ourselves more. 
Under the hospitable chaDeronage of 
the ladies of New Orleans, the visi- 
tors had been enabled to pee more 
of the city than they could have done 
in three months alone. I therefore 
move a vote of thanks to the ladies." 

Mr. N. B. Kelly (of Philadelphia): 
I desire to second that motion, and 
to say that I strongly indorse the 
remarks of Mr. Kennedy. 

The resolution was adopted by a 
rising vote. 

Mr. Ously (of Galveston) offered 
the following resolutions: 

"Reviewing the splendid success of 
this session of the Southern Indus- 
trial Convention, which is now placed 
upon a broad basis, insuring large 
and continuous influence, and recall- 
ing the earlier struggles of the move- 
ment, be it 

"Resolved, That it is the sense of 
this convention that the South owes 
a debt of gratitude to the origina- 
tors of the Southern Industrial As- 
sociation, and the association espe- 
cially owes and hereby acknowledges 
its deep obligation to the people of 
New Orleans, whose industry and 
generosity have accomplished sue 1 ! 
brilliant results. 

"Resolved further, That we hereby 
express our appreciation of the con- 
tinuous labors of the Southern press 
in behalf of industrial development, 
and especially of the liberal reports 



of our proceedings made by the press 
of New Orleans." 

"Resolved further, That the thanks 
of the Southern Industrial Conven- 
tion are hereby tendered to the City 
of New Orleans and the following or- 
ganizations: New Orleans Progress- 
ive Union; New Orleans Board of 
Trade; Sugar Exchange; Cotton Ex- 
change; Produce Exchange; Real 
Estate Exchange; Maritime Associa- 
tion; Mechanics, Dealers and Lum- 
bermen's Exchange, and last, but not 
least, the Local Council of Women of 
New Orleans, for the generous hos- 
pitality and the many courtesies and 
entertainments provided for our com- 
fort and pleasure and the grand dec- 
orations of the hall. 

The resolutions were enthusiasti- 
cally adopted. 

Hon. J. P. Coffin (of Florida), then 
submitted the following resolution in 
regard to water hyacinths, and its re- 
lation to navigation in the Southern 
States: 

Whereas, A large majority of the 
navigable streams and bayous are 
entirely taken possession of by this 
noxious growth, and, to such an ex- 
tent, as to render navigation a thing 
of the past; and, 

Whereas, The attention of the Fed- 
eral Government has been called to 
this noxious growth, which is rapid- 
ly spreading in every direction, and 
during the year 1897, the Department 
of Agriculture were called on to in- 
vestigate and report upon trie condi- 
tion of the St. John's River, Florida; 
and whereas, Prof. Herbert J. Webber 
was appointed Special Commissioner 
for this purpose, and whose report 
is published in Bulletin No. 18 of the 
Department of Agriculture which 
shows the alarming conditions and 
encroachment on navigation. 

And whereas, A large majority of 
the navigable lakes and bayous of 
the South have been abandoned ow- 
ing to the conditions and rapid 
growth of the water hyacinth, which 
has spread to such an extent that the 
only relief lies with the general gov- 
ernment, and whereas; 

During the last Session of Con- 



Held in Nezv Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



209 



gress, Hon. R. C. Davey, represent- 
ing the Second District of Louisiana, 
introduced a bill in Congress asking 
an appropration of $100,0^0 for the 
purpose of effectually removing this 
obstruction. Therefore, be it Re- 
solved, That it is the sense of this 
convention that we, as a body, give 
our indorsement , and recommenda- 
tion to the passage of this bill. 
The resolutions were adopted. 

Ex-Mayor Noonan, (of St. Louis): 



I move that the convention now pro- 
ceed to the selection of its next place 
of meeting, and the election of of- 
ficers. 

Mr. Gibson, (of Alabama): I 
would request that a delay of half an 
hour be allowed before these matters 
are taken up. 

The selection of next meeting place 
and election of officers was then, 
made special order for 12:30. 

The regular program was then 
proceeded with: 



MANUFACTURE OF AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS 
IN THE SOUTH. 

BY MR. E. J. BRYAN. 



Chairman Story: I will now intro- 
duce to you Mr. E. J. Bryan, of Bir- 
mingham, who will address you on 
an extremely interesting subject, 
"The Manufacture of Agricultural 
Implements in the South." 

Mr. E. J. Bryan: 

"Mr. President, Ladies and Gentle- 
men — as agriculture is a large con- 
tributor to the maintenance of man, 
and at present is the chief source of 
revenue in the South, agricultural 
implements, being precedent to agri- 
cultural results, are relatively impor- 
tant. Being producers of wealth, 
both in their birth and death, 
through the pay roll of manufacture 
and the wearing out under soil cul- 
ture, we invite your attention to the 
strong position they hold in the field 
of Southern industrials. 

The learned alchemists failed to 
find the long-sought magic art, but 
agricultural implements in the hands 
of labor turn the sod to gold. 

The industrial and agricultural re- 
sources of a country underlie the 
well-being and wealth of its people, 
and form the foundations of its com- 
merce. The production of wealth de- 
pends upon the practical application 
of labor to existing resources; the 
surest and shortest path to its at- 
tainment is the economic utilization 
of favorable conditions. 

As agriculture is a large contrib- 
utor to the maintenance of man, and 
at present is the chief source of rev- 
enue in the South, agricultural im- 



plements, being precedent to agricul- 
tural results, are relatively import- 
ant. Being producers of wealth, both 
in their birth and death, through the 
pay-roll of manufacture, and the 
wearing out under soil culture, we 
invite your attention to the strong 
position they hold in the field of 
Southern industrials. 

Birmingham, which suffered as all 
pioneers in new fields inevitably suf- 
fer, is now a stalwart young giant, 
strong at home and abroad, in the 
established merits of its products. 
Having passed through the trying ex- 
perimental stages, and trodden un- 
der foot all question as to the stand- 
ard of excellence of its output, it 
now offers to the world the fruits 
of its victory — superior basic open 
hearth steel and high grade iron, 
both of quality second to none. 

Geographically placed in the cen- 
ter of the agricultural and mineral 
South, surrounded by forests of hard 
woods, soft and finishing timbers, 
favorably located as to labor, with 
the cheapest and most illimitable 
supply of coal, coke and all raw ma- 
terials, it challenges the attention of 
industrial capital and labor with its 
unequaled natural advantages for 
manufacture and distribution. We 
are now making into plow blades 
Southern basic open hearth steel, re- 
sulting in implements of a higher 
grade and quality than any produced 
by our practical operator, in an ex- 
perience of twenty-three years. 



210 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



With these facilities, nothing can 
prevent the rapid growth of the man- 
ufacture of agricultural implements 
In the South. Their manufacture oc- 
cupies a similar position to that of 
--cotton manufacture. 

What school of economics, what 
grade of intelligence, can indorse a 
system which forfeits our natural ad- 
vantages, by transporting our tim- 
bers, minerals, fibres and oils, to 
•; distant points, depositing rich pay- 
-rolls with distant communities and 
there converting the gifts of God in- 
to necessities, to be double-freighted 
back again for our use? Why and 
bow long shall we rest under this 
stigma? 

Pay-rolls are the pulse of indus- 
try, the sustenance of communities, 
the builders of homes, the providers 
•of comforts and the supporters of 
-contented citizenship. 

The problem of successful manu- 
facture of staple products is largely 
;a tonnage proposition. A given 
yearly expense account must be pro- 
bated on the yearly output. 

At a glance you may see that the 
manufacturer who has fewest idle 
■days, if he get the capacity of his 
■machinery, yields the largest pay- 
roll and the cheapest product. This 
principle extends from the coal and 
ore mines, through the blast furnace, 
the rolling mill, diversified manu- 
facturing and transportation. A min- 
imum cost can only be reached 
through volume of business. Even 
favorable conditions cannot be used 
to best advantage without it. Equal 
competetive power and wide reach of 
trade depend upon it. 

The South is more liberally blessed 
-with natural advantages than any 
other section of this great republic. 

It is capable of maintaining a 
larger population than any other 
equal area on the face of the globe. 
Its inexhaustible .mineral deposits 
-and virgin forests are practically un- 
touched. Its rich soil and conductive 
climate make riotous growth of veg- 
etation. It teems with" !i possibiHtie& 
appealing to capital and enterprise 
to take advantage of rare opportun- 
ity. 

This volume of steady trade we 
miay and must have. It opens to us 
through progressive united develop- 



ment and additional grasp of trade, 
naturally tributary to us. 

That grand old Alabamian, Gen- 
eral John T. Morgan, who shall have 
builded to himself, to his State and to 
his nation and indestructible monu- 
ment in the Nicaragua canal, has had 
to fight through long, tedious years 
of delay, obstinate and willful ob- 
struction, against a work that can 
only bring honor and gain to this 
whole nation. 

With the Nicaragua canal connect- 
ing the two hemispheres, the Warrior 
river linking the tide waters of the 
Gulf to the heart of the Birmingham 
district, there shall flow from the 
throbbing arteries of trade such a 
volume of prosperity as shall envelop 
this grand country as with a mantle 
of gold, extending our reach of trade 
through the Asiatics and to the con- 
fines of civilized and uncivilized peo- 
ples. 

All factors contributing to de- 
velopment are co-operative, as bene- 
fits therefrom are reciprocal to every 
interest, whether so intended or not. 
Shall we not then expect the har- 
monious co-operation of all represen- 
tatives of capital, labor and enter- 
prise to enthusiastically join in an 
effort to effect reciprocal benefits 
which shall radiate upon all within 
the four quarters of our country. 
United action, judiciously applied to 
our possibilities, must result in an 
ever-increasing multiple of joint ad- 
vantage, which shall make cities of 
hamlets, fill wide gaps of idle coun- 
try with populous producers, and 
make this greatly blessed country 
ring to the echo with sound of steel 
under forge, the hiss of steam in 
manufacture and the whir of wheels 
in transportation. 

Let us actively indorse the plan in- 
augurated by this convention for in- 
dustrial development, invite the 
world to come into this glorious sec- 
tion and share with us "on the 
ground floor" the great industrial 
history the South is now making in 
nature's richest storehouse. We are 
building rapidly, and each year will 
find our edifice broader and nigher, 
and neglected opportunity harder to 
find. No sluggard will find present 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7 1900. 



211 



possibilities waiting him in later 
years. 

In 1899 one company operating 
largely in the Birmingham district 
handled an output of pig iron, coal, 
coke, ores and stone of 7,809,927 tons. 
It would require over 375,000 rail- 
road cars, of 40,000 pounds capacity 
each, making a train over 2200 miles 
long, to move at one time this one 
year's southern product of the com- 
pany. With the present lights be- 
fore us, what a tonnage they will 
place on their annual output record 
in the coming years! 

That young giant city of the South- 
land, whose mineral challenge has 
been sounded the length and breadth 



of all lands where coal, iron and 
steel are known, strong in the might 
and power of resource, bids enter- 
prise to come and share its victory. 

With unequaled facilities for the 
construction and manufacture of all 
lines involving steel, iron, coal, coke 
and timber, it confidently looks for- 
ward to the transferance of the in- 
dustrial center of trade to that local- 
ity, planned and fitted for it by 
nature. 

It cordially and heartily bids you 
join it in a prosperity jubilee, which 
shall be celebrated during the 
national mineral exposition that will 
be held there some few years hence. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE RICE INDUSTRY IX THE 

SOUTH. 

BY PROF. S. A. KNAPP. 



Prof. S. A. Knapp, of Lake Charles, 
spoke on the culture of rice. He said 
that there was no use of advertising 
a gold mine. He pointed out that 
before the manufacturing industries 
were brought to the South the food 
supply must be produced there. 

He said that there was no use of 
advertising a section of the country 
which had just received an accession 
of$10,000,000 to develop its industries. 
He introduced and read the follow- 
ing paper upon the importance of the 
rice industry in the South: 
Ladies and Gentlemen: 

We are rapidly approaching the 
era of a universal density of popu- 
lation. To the people of the United 
States it has hitherto seemed remote. 
The revelations of the last census 
show that our feet have already 
crossed the border and that within 
the present century we shall be con- 
fronted with the problem of a suffi- 
cient home food supply, instead of 
sending an enormous surplus to the 
Old World. Thus far we have paid 
no attention to the economic value 
of food, nor its digestibility in our 
efforts to gratify the appetite. In 
fact fifty years ago such values were 
unknown to the scientific world. 
Now we realize the amazing waste 
resulting from the selection of food 



on the basis of taste instead of the 
amount of nourishment contained. 
As seven eights of the food consumed 
is on an average expended in the 
production of energy, the value of 
foods should be largely based on the 
amount of energy they will produce 
in the human body. It is interesting 
to note what a revolution of prices 
this would produce. On the basis of 
the amount of energy a food will im- 
part, taking wheat flour as a stand- 
ard at two and one half cents per 
pound, good beef steak (round) 
should be sold at 1 7/10 cents per 
pound; porterhouse at 1 66/100; 
turkey, the edible portion, at 2 
cents; chicken, broilers, at 3/4 of a 
cent; Irish potatoes at 3/10 of a cent; 
butter at 5 1/2 cents; cream cheese at 
3 1/10 cents; oysters at 3/10 of a 
cent; red snapper at 4/10 of a cent; 
corn meal at 2 47/100 cents; oatmeal 
at 2 8/10 cents; rice at 2 52/100 cents 
and invalid food, such as malted 
milk, at 1 6/10 cents. 

Three articles in this list are super- 
ior to rice, to-wit: oatmeal, butter 
and cheese, but their superiority is 
due solely to the large proportion of 
fat in each. The consumption of fat 
in the body is like burning pitch pine 
under a boiler, it makes steam but it 
soon burns out the shell. Fats make 



212 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention 



too hot a fire for warm countries. If 
perfect consumption and slight tax 
upon the system be considered rice 
again takes rank as first among 
foods in value. Where rice is the 
principal food dyspepsia and other 
forms of indigestion are rarely found 
and there is perfect health and great 
endurance. In Japan it is a common 
saying among resident American 
women, "I could do that if I had a 
Japanese back," referring to the 
strength of loin possessed by the 
native women. Every traveler in 
that distant land has noticed with 
surprise the ease with which a jin- 
rikisha boy will draw a man six 
miles an hour along the streets of 
Tokio. In the late rapid advance 
upon Peking it was found that the 
Japanese could outmarch all the 
armies of the Occident. With full 
equipment they advanced at double 
quick all day and repeated it till 
even the Russians fell behind ex- 
hausted. The women with backs, 
these jihfikisha boys with the 
speed of a horse and these double 
quick soldiers live on rice, bean soup 
and fish. ' 

The Chinese Coolie works in the 
rice marshes of Siam, under a tropi- 
cal sun, breathes malaria, drinks 
stagnant water and remains in per- 
fect health. He lives on rice. 

In selecting a food for dense pop- 
ulations certainty of the crop is an 
important consideration, especially 
wh^re any considerable failure is 
significant of the death of a portion 
of the people. Rice, when properly 
cultivated, is the most certain crop 
of all the cereals. In the Orient it 
has been bred and trained to with- 
stand the sweeping monsoon and the 
furious tornado. Last spring a 
farmer on the lower Colorado river, 
in Texas, planted 150 acres with im- 
ported Japan seed rice. The Galves- 
ton tornado destroyed all his cotton, 
but his rice successfully withstood 
the storm and yielded 17 barrels per 
acre. Given a suitable soil, plenty of 
water and intelligent husbandry and 
the rice crop may be depended upon 
with greater regularity than bank 
dividends. 

A third reason for adopting rice 
as a staple food supply in countries 
of dense population is that the an- 



nual crop does not exhaust the soil 
as rapidly as other cereals. The water 
of irrigation furnishing a material 
amount of plant food, and in some 
countries a winter renovating crop, 
as clover in Egypt, is used, making it 
possible to continuously crop a field 
in rice for an indefinite period. Fur- 
ther a staple food for a warm climate 
must be one that can be easily pre- 
served from one season to another. 
In the tropics corn and wheat can- 
not constitute the staple food, except 
in sparcely settled sections where 
corn can be held in the shuck. Corn 
meal and wheat flour are soon 
spoiled, weavel and must speedily 
make them unfit for use; but rice 
can be stored with reasonable safety. 
It can be prepared and cooked with 
the crudest implements and is a 
healthful food for people of all ages 
and conditions. 

It is fair, therefore, to assume that 
the consumption of rice in the United 
States will increase more rapidly 
than the population, all other things 
being equal. A dense population will 
demand it. 

Fifteen years since it appeared 
highly improbable that rice would 
ever occupy any commanding posi- 
tion in the food markets of this 
country. Wheat and corn imperially 
controlled the situation and were 
dominating the markets of the world. 
The spinning jenny and the power 
loom did not do more to enthrone 
the cotton industry than the machine 
seeder, the twine binder and the 
steam thrasher did to make wheat 
chief of cereals. Rice, in all this 
period of the triumphant evolution 
of wheat remained stationary. Fif- 
teen years ago it was planted, har- 
vested and milled the world over pre- 
cisely as it was 2000 years before 
America was discovered and to all 
appearance there would be no im- 
provement for the ensuing 20 cen- 
turies. One day some bold optimists 
conceived the idea that improved 
farm machinery could be adjusted to 
the rice industry. After many trials 
and failures it was a success. The 
gang plow, the horse drill, the twine 
binder and the steam thresher took 
possession of the rice fields. This 
involved a revolution, to-wit: the 
Southern States would become in the 
near future large contributors to the 



Held in New Orleans, December 4.-7, 1900. 



213 



world's food supply as well as to her 
fiber supply. 

I have digressed somewhat from 
the subject assigned me, "Rice Pro- 
duction in the South," to discuss 
some of the general propositions re- 
lating to rice, but necessary to a full 
understanding of the situation. It is 
needless to enter into an account of 
the introduction of rice into the 
United States. It 'is sufficient to 
state that its cultivation till recently 
was along old lines and that its pro- 
duction appeared likely to decrease, 
owing to the stronger competition 
from India and Siam, due to the con- 
struction of the Suez canal and the 
employment of larger steamships in 
the Oriental service, greatly reduc- 
ing the cost of transportation. Jn- 
til 1885 rice production in the United 
States was practically limited to the 
alluvial lands of the Carolinas, 
Georgia, Florida and Louisiana, and 
it then appeared that the industry 
could not successfully meet the com- 
petition of the bonanza wheat farms 
of the northwestern prairies on the 
one hand and the low priced labor 
of India on the other; but when 
machinery was adjusted to rice pro- 
duction and it was discovered that 
the prairie lands of Southwestern 
Louisiana and Southern Texas, with 
their impervious subsoil, would dry 
out before the rice harvest, suffic- 
iently to hold up machinery, rice be- 
gan to re-assert the supremacy which 
she held as a world food while the 
use of machinery in the fields of hus- 
bandry was unknown. This coast 
prairie rice belt in Louisiana and 
Texas includes over 12,000 square 
miles of fairly level and very fertile 
prairie. Prior to the invasion of 
this territory by rice the land was 
regarded as almost worthless except 
for stock range. Subsequently it was 
ascertained that the soil was ricn in 
plant food and that its nonproduc- 
tive condition was due solely to lack 
of drainage. This rice belt is bi- 
sected by ten navigable rivers and by 
many smaller streams; all convey- 
ing fresh, soft water, comparatively 
free from silt. Prices of land were 
barely above the cost of government 
entry. Settlers from many sections 
of country began to camp upon this 
territory with improved machinery. 
Some people shook their heads, but 



they shook out their plows, their 
drills and binders and went to work. 

Wherever prairies were found suf- 
ficiently level, with an inrersecting 
creek which could be used to flood 
them, they were surrounded by a 
small levee thrown up by a road 
grader or by a plow with a strong 
wing attached to the moldboard ex- 
tending it 4 or 5 feet, or with a 
plank grader. These levees were 
usually 12 to 24 inches high, and 
the interior ditch was 12 to 18 inches 
deep and 4 or 5 feet wide. Very few 
interior ditches were made for drain- 
age. The land was so level that 
fields of 40. and 80 acres were com- 
mon. Large crops were produced. 
The prairies were practically free 
from injurious grasses, and the creek 
or river water was soft and bore no 
damaging seeds to the fields. The 
rice fields were handled like the bon- 
anza wheat farms of Dakota, and for- 
tunes were made. Levees were 
cheaply constructed; little attention 
was paid to drainage, more than to 
remove the surface water; shocking, 
stacking, and thrashing were done in 
a very careless manner; the main 
object being, apparently, to plant a 
large acreage and secure a certain 
number of bushels, regardless of 
quality. Ultimate failure was cer- 
tain, but it was hastened by drought. 
A succession of dry years followed. 
The creeks failed, and reservoirs 
were found to be expensive and un- 
reliable. 

To provide a reliable supply of 
water, pumping plants for raising 
water from the streams were grad- 
ually put in. The elevation of the 
prairies above the streams varies 
from 6 to 38 feet, the larger portion 
being from 15 to 25 feet. At first, 
farms along the streams and lakes 
were irrigated; gradually large sur- 
face canals were constructed. 

In nearly every township there 
are one or more ridges slightly above 
the surrounding land. On these 
surface canals are built from 20 to 
150 feet in width, according to the 
area to be watered. The sides of 
the canal are raised from 4 to 5 feet 
with plows and scrapers or with 
grading machinery- Grading ma- 
chines work very weh, as ine soil is 
a loam or a clay loam free from 
stones. Side gates are inserted in 



214 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



the embankment as frequently as 
necessary. Laterals are run from the 
main canal to accommodate remote 
farms. Powerful pumping plants are 
erected on the bank of the river at 
the head of the surface canal. These 
canals, where well constructed and 
operated, prove entirely successful 
and make the rice crop a practical 
certainty over a large section of 
country. They range in irrigating 
capacity from 1,000 to 30,000 acres. 
The usual water rent charged the 
planter by the canal company is 324 
pounds of rough rice per acre 
watered. 

The cost of constructing perman- 
ent canals is considerable. Between 
the river or lake bank, at the initial 
point, and the general level of the 
table lands, and in crossing oc- 
casional depressions the levees must 
be both high and wide at the base. 
The canal must run upon a divide in 
order that it may not cross any 
streams and may be sufficiently 
above the general level to water all 
portions of the adjacent country. 

Several hundred miles of such ir- 
rigating canals have been con- 
structed, which with their pumping 
plants have involved an expenditure 
of over three millions of money. 

Scarcely had the surface canals 
been accepted as a success when 
Southwestern Louisiana was startled 
by the announcement that there was 
a stratum of gravel at 125 to 200 feet 
under the surface of the entire sec- 
tion containing an unlimited supply 
of water which would, of its own 
pressure, come so near the surface 
that it could be readily pumped. This 
was received with considerable in- 
credulity at first, but repeated tests 
have proved that there is a bed of 
gravel nearly 50 feet in thickness un- 
derlying this section of Louisiana 
which carries a large amount of soft 
water with sufficient pressure to 
bring it nearly to the surface. Pipes 
of 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10-inch size have 
been sunk to the gravel and pumped 
continuously for months without 
diminution of the supply. The water 
is soft, at a constant temperature of 
about 70 degrees, and absolutely free 
from injurious seeds or minerals. 
Such is the facility with which tnese 
wells are made that a 6-inch tuoe 
has been put down to the full depth 



required — 200 feet — in fourteen hour3. 
Thus far it has been found that a 
2-inch pipe will furnish sufficient 
water to flood 10 acres of rice and a 
6-inch pipe will flood 80 to 90 acres. 
Any number of wells may be made, 
and even if no more than 20 or 30 
feet apart, one does not seriously 
diminish the amount of water ob- 
tained from the other. 

The total cost of a well or wells 
and pumping outfit sufficient for 200 
acres of rice is from $1500 to $2000 
and for 500 acres about $3500, or $7 
per acre. It is probable that over 
50,000 acres of rice will be irrigated 
by wells the ensuing season. The 
cost of such irrigation is from one 
to two dollars per acre for the sea- 
son, depending upon the cost of fuel 
and other conditions. When planta- 
tions are remote from timber and 
the railroad, the gasoline engine will 
be used. Since it has been found 
possible to transmit electricity with 
very small loss to distant motors the 
plan has been in contemplation to 
equip ten or twenty thousand acres 
witb wells and electric motors and 
furnish power from a central plant, 
using the same power for milling the 
rice when not in use for pumping. 

The evolution in milling rice has 
been as great as in the production. 

The primitive method of milling 
rice was to place a small quantity in 
a hollow stone or block of wood and 
pound it with a pestle. The blow 
with the pestle cracked the hull, ana 
the friction created by tne slidmg 
motion of the rice under the blow 
removed the hull and the cuticle. 
The bran and hulls were then separ- 
ated by winnowing. The first ad- 
vance upon this primitive mechani- 
cal process was to make the recepta- 
cle for the rice out of a short sec- 
tion of a hollow log, using a heavy 
wooden pounder bound to a hori- 
zontal beam, resting on a fulcrum 
4 to 5 feet from the pounder. The 
pounder was raised Dy stepping on 
the short end of the beam, and by 
suddenly removing the weight the 
pounder dropped into the rice tub 
and delivered a blow. 

This simple machine and the fan- 
ning mill are in common use in ori- 
ental countries to this day. 

As one passes along the street in 
an oriental city, a peculiar sound is 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



215 



brought to the ear as a blow de- 
livered upon some yielding sub- 
stance. Looking to the right or left 
one sees a rice mill, consisting of a 
one-man power jumping on and off 
the beam of the pounder and one- 
woman power at a crude fanning mill 
cleaning the grain. Such a mill 
cleans about 11 bushels (a trifle over 
3 barrels) of paddy rice per day, at 
a cost of 6 cents (gold) per barrel. 

Where practicable, water is used 
to turn an overshot wheel, which 
is geared to a long horizontal 
shaft with arms at distances apart 
equal to that of the rice pounders. 
In every mountain village in Japan 
may be found such mills preparing 
the rice for local consumption. They 
usually have about eight pounders 
and mill 96 bushels daily or 26 2/3 
barrels of paddy rice, at a cost of 
about 2 cents per .barrel, which is 
more than paid for by the offal. In 
cities steam power is used and the 
number of pounders greatly in- 
creased, but the process is practi- 
cally unchanged. Our modern rice 
mill is an automoton of complicated 
machinery, into which the rough rice 
passes and finally reappears ready 
for market, graded, sacked and 
weighed, at the rate of 20,000 to 
200,000 pounds per day, according 
to capacity. 

Thus far the evolutions of rice 
in its production and milling pro- 
cesses has gone forward upon South- 
ern soil with perfect success. The 
problem now widens. It is one of 
economic distribution. The producer 
of wheat in Dakota receives within 
a third of a cent per pound of the 
sum the consumer in Louisiana pays 
for the flour. In case of wheat, 
transportation, milling and profits 
are kept within a third of a cent per 
pound. Reversing it; the consumer 
of rice in Dakota pays five cents per 
pound more than the farmer in 
Louisiana receives at his home mar- 
ket. That is, fifteen times as much 
is paid for milling and marketing 
rice as for milling and marketing 
wheat. 

When I was a boy I held my atlas 
on an incline in front of me and 
somehow the idea took possession of 
me that it was always uphill toward 
the north pole. Transportation lines 
must have arrived at some such con- 



ception and are charging for heavy 
grades in moving freights toward 
the north. However, the battle of 
the toiling millions will soon arbi- 
trate this question in favor of rice 
and the two great staples, wheat 
and rice, will be placed upon the 
same footing commercially. With 
transportation and other questions of 
economic distribution adjusted the 
producers of rice will enter upon a 
battle royal with the producers of 
wheat. With what result? In India, 
China and Japan, which contain 
about one-half the population of the 
world, wheat and rice have been 
produced for decades of centuries un- 
der similar conditions. Both are cul- 
tivated and harvested by the crudest 
hand processes. There, under sim- 
ilar conditions the result has been 
favorable to rice. In the United 
States both are machine products 
upon a parity. Rice has against it 
the greater cost of irrigation and of 
cutting. It has in its favor a larger 
yield per acre, a more certain crop 
and an adaptation to rich, low lands 
unsuited to wheat. The by products 
of rice are fully as valuable as those 
of wheat. The straw is superior as 
a stock food. Thousands of tons of 
rice straw have been sold this year 
in Louisiana at $4 to $6 per ton to 
stock men. Rice bran and rice 
polish rank for food with wheat bran 
and wheat middlings. It should be 
noted that wheat production in the 
United States has passed the meri- 
dian of its vigor. Many States that 
once were large contributors to the 
wheat supply do not now produce 
enough for home consumption. 
Wheat was fortunate in finding won- 
derfully favorable conditions on the 
prairies of the Northwest, but it ex- 
hausts the soil rapidly; ten to fif- 
teen years of continuous cropping 
reduces the annual yield per acre to 
barely paying quantities. The cen- 
ter of wheat production is moving 
steadily to the north; there is little 
remaining territory for it to devas- 
tate. Already it is a giant with pal- 
sied limbs. 

A further question should be con- 
sidered. Can the rice planters of 
the United States, with all of their 
improved agricultural machinery, 
compete with the cheap labor of the 
Orient? On the prairie rice lands of 



216 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



Louisiana and Texas one man with 
a four horse or four mule team usu- 
ally plants and harvests 100 acres 
of rice. He will require an addi- 
tional man in harvesting and stack- 
ing and of course help for two or 
three days in thrashing. Well tended 
his crop should net him 1000 barrels 
worth at present three thousand dol- 
lars. He may do much better than 
this and he may do worse. In Japan 
one-third of an acre is a reasonable 
rice farm for one man. In China 
and India the water buffalo is used 
in preparing the land which enables 
one man to cultivate from one-half 
an acre to two acres, depending upon 
the amount of additional help em- 
ployed. There is no known country 
where a dollar in wages will pro- 
duce as many bushels of rice as in 
the United States. The indications 
are that rice production in India and 
Japan will decrease. These countries 
show remarkable progress in textile 
manufactures. This indicates that 
considerable land will in the near 
future be devoted to the production 
of fiber. Every acre devoted to fiber 
must be withdrawn from the culti- 
vation of rice or wheat, for every 
available acre in India, China and 
Japan is now under cultivation. It 
should be noted that the increased 
production of rice in southern Eu- 
rope, especially in Italy and Spain, 
has been considerable within the 
past 30 years and wheat, oats and 
barley have relatively yielded 
ground. 

The increase of the world's pop- 
ulation in the next thirty years will 
not be less than four hundred mil- 
lion and the food for this immense 
number of people must be drawn 
from new fields. Before the expir- 
ation of that period India, China and 
Japan will become importers of rice, 
and the rice of Siam will find market 
at neighboring ports. The markets 
of Europe must then be supplied by 
American rice and the consumption 
in the United States in the mean 
time will have more than doubled. 

Let us take account of stock, 
Suppose our product last year to 
have been two hundred million 
pounds of cleaned rice (this above 
the general estimate), we imported 
two hundred and five million pounds 
and Porto Rico with an annual de- 



mand of seventy-five millions has 
been added to our markets. Cuba, 
just at our door, ' will soon require 
one hundred million pounds annually 
and the Philippine demand will be 
about one hundred and thirty-five 
million pounds. ' These islands are 
all importers of food products be- 
cause they find other crops more 
profitable under tneir conditions. 
The Hawaiian Islands formerly sent 
to this country about five million 
pounds annually, now they import 
from us large amounts. With an 
annual production of about two hun- 
dred million pounds we have present 
and prospective markets demanding 
seven hundred and twenty-five mil- 
lion pounds, with the probability that 
the demand will be more than dou- 
bled in thirty years, and the markets 
of Europe added. 

Some will ask, "If such is the rice 
situation in the South, what is the 
necessity of any tariff on it?" For 
several reasons; 1st, the question of 
economic distribution has not yet 
been settled; 2nd, many things are 
yet to be learned about rice in con- 
nection with machine production. 
As yet it does not take as high a 
polish as hand produced rice. It fre- 
quently has what is known as the 
chalky edge, which reduces the price 
of the finished product fifty cents per 
hundred. The price of rice at pres- 
ent is based on fashion and not on 
food value. It is the problem of 
finish or the shine it takes and not 
what it is. This chalky edge is 
due to careless management in pro- 
ducing large crops and will soon be 
remedied. Credit is due the United 
States Department of Agriculture 
for prompt and valuable assistance 
in overcoming some very serious ob- 
stacles in the way of economic rice 
production. 

Another thing to be learned, is 
better cultivation as necessary to 
quantity and quality of product. 

3rd, rice farming on our system 
is yet in its infancy. Many farmers 
have recently commenced with small 
means and are not yet in circum- 
stances to make a crop at the great- 
est profit, which requires ready cap- 
ital. 4th, the greatest danger from 
Oriental competition is what is 
known as dumpage, i. e., after home 
consumption has been supplied the 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 



217 



remainder is sold for what it wi'.l 
bring, regardless of cost of produc- 
tion. This occasional dumping of a 
surplus on our market utterly de- 
moralizes our home prices. In the 
United States, when an enormous 
crop of grain gives us a cheap sur- 
plus it is fed to cattle and hogs. In 
Oriental countries it must be sold, 
because they do not have the stock 
to which it can be fed and hence it 
is exported at any price it will com- 
mand. It is like eggs, the surplus 
is sent to market whether the price 
be four cents or forty cents per 
dozen. Ordinary conditions can be 
met, but an occasional dump is so 
excessive as to be a wrecker. 

I have thus far discussed rice al- 
most entirely from its commercial 
standpoint. This is not its most 
substantial and attractive feature for 
the South. The paramount demand 
of the South is for some good, small- 
grain crop, which will furnish food 
for the people, and a profitable sur- 
plus for export, leaving upon the 
farm abundant and nutritious by 
products for the maintenance of 
stock and thus untilizing the luxur- 
iant pasture lands, now classed as 
waste. Cotton and pasture do not 
co-operate. The sole by product of 
cotton is worth too much commer- 
cially to be generally left upon the 
farm. The full resources of the av- 
erage farm can never be developed 
with cotton as the main crop. Corn 
is a grand grain but its stalk is too 
woody and has lost much of its value 
before it is required as food for cat- 
tle. The plant that meets these re- 
quirements is rice. It has a wide 
habitat and can safely be planted 
from the equator to the 36th parallel 
of latitude. South of this line most 
farms have a creek or river bottom, 
easily flooded, which might be de- 
voted to rice. One hundred acres of 
rice furnishes at least one hundred 
tons of straw superior to native 
prairie hay, and twenty-five tons of 
bran and polish. This provides for 
the wintering of one hundred head 
of stock. Some plan will soon be 
devised for the use of agricultural 
machinery on bottom land as well 
as on the firmer soils of the prairie. 
The future of this industry is full of 
interest. 

The chief interests, however, in 
the general planting of rice in the 



South lies in the fact that it will 
make the Southern States resource- 
ful and independent. In the nature 
of things there will ever be a strug- 
gle for empire and the survival of 
the most powerful. The decisive bat- 
tles of the future will be won, not 
by seried battalions with emblazoned 
banners amid the rattle of the rifle 
and the roar of the cannon, but by 
the industrious millions on the farms 
and in the factories. It is a battle 
to a finish for the most economic 
production and distribution of the 
world's supplies. War has become 
a problem of the exchequer, based 
upon industrial resources. A bread 
line 1500 miles long is improvident 
if safe. Economic forces are opposed 
to it; especially when we have a 
cereal at home, hardy, enormously 
productive, better suited to our re- 
quirements, and can be milled upon 
the farm for home use at trifling 
expense. 

I have heard with pleasure in 
this convention speeches and reso- 
lutions in favor of establishing cot- 
ton mills in the South until every 
pound of cotton produced within her 
fair domain shall be transformed by 
the magic of spindle and looms into 
fabrics of value for the marts of 
trade. Did it occur to the eminent 
speakers that however desirable such 
a result, its achievement is impos- 
sible under present conditions? Why? 
Because we now import from the 
North immense quantities of wheat, 
beef, pork, butter, cheese and other 
iood products. The question is sim- 
ply this: Is it cheaper to transport 
the food for the operatives in cotton 
mills from its Northern base to the 
cotton centres of the South or to 
ship the cotton bale to the food cen- 
tres of the North. Cotton is the 
cheaper freight. If, however, we 
shall become a great food producing 
people, the whole problem will be 
changed. The general cultivation 
and use of rice in the South will 
solve the factory problem. 

To affirm that rice in the South 
can occupy the vantage ground of 
wheat in the North, both in extent 
and in economy of production is 
equivalent to a declaration of com- 
mercial independence. It means that 
we shall feed our own people with 
a home grown cereal and that with 
by products we shall produce the 



218 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



pork, the beef, the butter, and the 
cheese required for home consump- 
tion. It means a better grade of 
cattle and horses, better beef and 
stronger teams. The substitution of 
rice for corn and wheat as a princi- 
pal food for Southern people will 
tend to the development of a hardier 
race. It will decrease dyspepsia, 
malaria and mortgages. It will 
strengthen and fortfy every line of 
industry and give us support at our 
weakest point, the lack of a proper 
ratio between the food and the fiber 
products. By general consent cotton 
is recognized as the best material to 
clothe the nations, and iron occupies 
a peerless position in all mechanical 
and structural works. In both these 
world-necessities the South has no 
successful rival. With the home pro- 
duction of food her commercial in- 
dependence will be complete and her 
conquests in the domains of indus- 
try will be a series of brilliant tri- 
umphs. Foundries and factories will 
come to her unsought; her cities will 
broaden to meet the demands of an 
increasing commerce and her marts 
of trade will teem with merchants 
from every land. 

Thus far it appears to me that ' 
this convention, from an industrial 
stand point, has been apologetic and 
penitential for the neglect of past 
opportunities, with promises of re- 
form and good resolutions for the 
future. I do not think Louisiana and 
Texas require any apology. For the 
past fifteen years they have embraced 
every opportunity for industrial im- 



provement and have gone into every 
battle for the commercial and indus- 
trial advancement of their people 
with the flags of their States spiked 
to the staff. 

Speaking for the rice section, fif- 
teen years since there was scarcely a 
barrel of commercial rice produced 
in what is now known as the prairie 
rice section, which extends 400 miles 
along the Gulf coast and contains 
some of the most fertile lands on 
this continent. These lands were 
then valued at twenty-five cents to 
one dollar and a half per acre. 
There were few settlements and no 
rice mills. To-day, it is the rice 
producing center of this continent. 
Unimproved lands are worth on an 
average $12.50 per acre. Those were 
thousands of well improved farms 
and happy homes. Within the ter- 
ritory are 27 rice mills with a daily 
capacity of over 20,000 barrels of 
rice. A score of young cities have 
sprung from the prairies, are clamor- 
ing for harbors and public buildings, 
and are heralding themselves as the 
future urban centres of the South. 
To illustrate the momentum of 
progress it may be stated that one 
firm has sold in a retail way 20,000 
acres of land for actual settlement 
since last July. Within the past 90 
days over ten million dollars of new 
capital have been invested in the 
rice industries of Louisiana and 
Texas. I can not say we are exactly 
in line, but we shall be when the 
rest double quick for* a few years." 
(Applause.) 



NEW ORLEANS BOAED OE TRADE. 

BY BERNARD McCLOSKEY, ESQ. 



Bernard McCloskey, on behalf of 
the Board of Trade, addressed the 
Convention. 

Bernard McCloskey made an ex- 
cellent address and it was applauded 
throughout. He spoke principally of 
the City of New Orleans and did 
justice to its greatness. His remarks 
were as follows: 
"Mr. Chairman and Delegates to the 
Southern Industrial Convention: At 
this late hour it is almost an im- 
position upon you to express the few 
facts upon the subject which has 



been assigned to me this morning. 

"The New Orleans Board of Trade, 
an organization representing not 
only the industrial and commercial 
development of the city, but every- 
thing that pertains to the financial, 
moral and social advancement of the 
inhabitants, has requested me, as ±cS 
spokesman, to say a few words on 
a subject that should interest every 
delegate to this convention; that is, 
the relation of the port of New Or- 
leans to the industrial development 
of the Southern States. I have lis- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, woo. 



219 



tened with marked attention to the 
very able papers read upon the in- 
dustrial development of Texas, Mis- 
souri, Alabama, Arkansas, North and 
South Carolina and the various other 
States in the Southern tier, but the 
more I listen the more it is im- 
pressed upon me that you may de- 
velop Arkansas and Alabama, you 
may develope Georgia and North and 
South Carolina, you may develope 
Missouri, but after all the Southern 
States must have some great outlet. 
Where is it? What is the use to 
grow crops if you cannot send them 
to a foreign market if necessary? 
What is the use of opening up and 
developing the resources of these 
great States if you have not an out- 
let to bear their products? What is 
the use of talking about this great 
Southern development if you have 
not a great Southern port equal to 
the occasion? It was a noble idea, 
one of the judges' of the United 
States Supreme Court expressed 
twenty-five years ago, that the banks 
of the Mississippi river opposite the 
City of New Orleans were as free to 
the inhabitants of Missouri as they 
were to the citizens of New Orleans; 
that is, that the harbor of New Or- 
leans is open to the world. The har- 
bor of New Orleans is particularly 
open to the Southern tier of States, 
to which it looks as the great outlet 
for the vast agricultural resources 
and the vast manufactured products. 
In other words, we, the delegates of 
the Board of Trade of New Orleans, 
say to the delegates of the various 
States, not only of the South, but 
of the country, that we have the 
greatest port in the world, because 
the banks of its river are free. It 
is the only inland seaside in the 
United States, Gentlemen, probably I 
should make myself a little clearer. 
The waters of the Gulf of Mexico, 
it has been held, touch upon the 
wharves and landings in front of this 
city. Therefore, it is an inland sea. 
Therefore, I say to you delegates of 
the various States that while you de- 
velope and continue to develope this 
great and vast region you must also 
maintain and look to us to continue 
to maintain an open gateway to the 
Atlantic and Pacific oceans. If this 
port burdens you with enormous 
charges for handling your produce, 



you may develope your fields, but 
you will divert your produce to the 
Eastern seaboard. Therefore, we 
particularly insist that the relation- 
ship of the development of the port 
of New Orleans and the development 
of the South is so close that when 
you develope the Southern States you 
develope this Southern port, and 
when you develope this Southern 
port, you maintain the cardinal prin- 
cipal that no exclusive right will be 
granted in this port to any interest, 
but it will be held sacred, and to the- 
purposes of this Industrial Conven- 
tion. 

Fellow-delegates, you can leave 
this convention and say that when 
this vast region seeks an outlet for 
their commerce that opposite this 
big and growing city there is their 
seaside, which cannot be bartered 
away to the detriment of their in- 
terest. What philosophy is in that 
decision of that justice of the Su- 
preme Court of the United States? 
"Cities arise from a contented and 
prosperous country around them." 
The Mississippi Valley is destined to- 
be one great city. Where is it to 
be? Gentlemen, it is right here. 
Therefore, my first suggestion to you 
is that the relationship between com- 
mercial development and the port 
of New Orleans is so close that we 
of New Orleans have a sacred duty 
to perform. We will maintain this 
port so that the import and export 
business will increase, and the> 
charges of this port will be so small 
as to be practically free. Gentlemen, 
an idea. What is the use in your 
producing crops to send to some 
foreign country, if you cannot send 
them into the market at the cheap- 
est rate possible? New Orleans has 
announced to the world that five 
months hence its port will be a free 
port. Just think of it. If a large 
steamship line desires a location for 
a landing in the City of New York, 
it is necessary for them to spend sev- 
eral millions of dollars in the build- 
ing of docks and otherwise. The re- 
sult is that an enomous capital has 
to be expended by the steamship line 
for the purpose of doing business 
there. In New Orleans a different 
spectacle is presented. Not a sin- 
gle dollar will be needed for the pur- 
pose of transacting business here. 
The charge can only be the actual 



220 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



cost of maintaining the wooden 
structure where the landing is had 
or the shed which covers the goods. 
The relation, therefore, of the in- 
dustrial development of the South 
to the port of New Orleans is ap- 
parent, and we state to this conven- 
tion that New Orleans will be the 
freest and cheapest port in the world, 
and especially in the United States. 

In this connection, brother dele- 
gates, it is sufficient for me to state 
that the value of the imports through 
the port of New Orleans during the 
past season amounted to $17,000,000, 
and the exports $115,000,000. The ac- 
tual tonnage entered and called at 
New Orleans was from 5,000,000 to 
7,000,000 gross. In other words, we 
are the second export city of the 
United States, and yet I was some- 
what astonished a few mornings ago 
to listen to one of our distinguished 
and able delegates say that New Or- 
leans was not maintaining its posi- 
tion. There is no city in the United 
States with a population of approxi- 
mately 300,000 which is making the 
rapid strides that New Orleans is. 
Its bank clearances have increased 
many million dollars. Its export and 
import business has increased 50 per 
cent. Its receipts of cotton amount 
to 2,300,000 bales. Our receipts of 
sugar have gone to nearly 2,000, wu 
barrels. In other words, brother del- 
egates, we have the second export 
city of the United States. We have 
the largest sugar market in the 
United States. We have the largest 
rice market in the United States, and, 
as I have already told you, we have 
about the freest port in the United 
States, especially a few months 
hence. 

But do not get frightened — I have 
something more to say to you. A 
few mornings ago I read in a New 
York paper — you know that when 
you want anything you must go out 
yourself and get it — capital will only 
come to you when they think they 
can make money out of you, and 
for that reason you must stand to- 
gether until the day of suffering in 
the Southland is at an end — stand 
together to the day of prosperity — 
stand together, and you will get 
there. But what did I start to tell 
you about the New York paper. It 
said that New York was losing her 



coffee business, and that New Or- 
leans had it. But we will hold it. 
New Orleans may control the coffee 
market, but we will still be the finan- 
cial centre. That is another fact that 
I desire to impress upon you. This 
great Southern country needs coffee. 
No matter how much you may de- 
velope the country, you want to have 
coffee for breakfast. So, gentlemen, 
we have in New Orleans a great cof- 
fee centre. I was about to stop, but 
I know most all of you eat fruit and 
bananas, especially if you live in 
this Southern climate. Now, how 
does the port of New Orleans stand 
on this question? It is one of the 
greatest ports of the United States 
as an importer of oranges, bananas, 
lemons, etc. 

Gentlemen, with these ideas be- 
fore you, I desire to impress upon 
you that New Orleans is the second 
exporting city of the United States; 
the largest cotton market in the 
United States, the largest sugar mar- 
ket in the United States, the largest 
rice market in the United States, the 
second largest coffee importing point 
in the United States. 

I may say to you that the New 
Orleans Board of Trade is in line 
with this industrial convention, as 
it is the representative of these var- 
ious interests that I have depicted to 
you. 

Fellow-delegates, I listened, a few 
mornings ago, very attentively to the 
Mayor of Waco, a distinguished 
representative, and I think he struck 
the key-note when he said that every 
man should stick up for his town. 
I am here, you will notice, to stick 
up for the great city of the South — 
New Orleans. We have an institu- 
tion known as the New Orleans Board 
of Trade, that represents the entire 
commercial interests of the city. It 
is in close touch with everything that 
pertains to the advancement of the 
welfare of the inhabitants of the City 
of New Orleans. It is also alive to 
everything that affects the South 
generally. An example: Every year 
we are confronted with the proposi- 
tion that the Southwestern Limited, 
that runs via Washington to New 
Orleans, the subsidy will be taken 
off. In other words, we believe 
a train running from Washington to 
New Orleans should at least make 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, igoo. 



221 



as good time as a train running from 
Washington to New York. But some 
of our congressional representatives 
do not believe so. This Board of 
Trade every year sees to it, with the 
assistance of the exchanges through- 
out the country, their representa- 
tives in Congress, and otherwise, 
that this is maintained. This is an 
example how generally alive to the 
necessities of the City of New Or- 
leans and of the South generally tiiis 
Board of Trade is. 

New Orleans is also becoming a 
great manufacturing centre. You 
have heard from one of the delegates 
about the growth of the shoe busi- 
ness and of its possibilities. We are 
manufacturing extensively beer, 
soap, furniture, tobacco, cotton 
goods, paints and tinware. There- 
fore, you need not feel that New Or- 
leans is asleep. 

When I heard that distinguished 
statesman and soldier from the State 
of Georgia, his remarks so impressed 
me, and upon the delegates, that 
when he said Georgia is in line I 
felt he could have added that Geor- 
gia is in line to pour all the products 
of that State that . must secure a 
foreign market through the port of 
New Orleans. 

The day of commercial depres- 
sion, not only in the South, but es- 
pecially in New Orleans, is at an 
end. The people are alive, not only 
to the necessities of the day, but 
they are generally alive to the fact 
that in order to develope trade they 
must compete. We are in a posi- 
tion to compete. One other word, 
brother delegates, which must inter- 
est you; that is what we intend do- 
ing relative to sewering and drain- 
ing the city. Would you believe it? 
I am sorry that you have not the 
time to see it, but it is a fact that we 
have the largest pump in the world. 
We are about to complete the most 
thorough drainage system, by which 
the water will be immediately car- 
ried off of our streets, as it is in 
Northern and Eastern cities, and we 
are about to install the most perfect 
sewerage system the most competent 
engineers can devise. Approxi- 
mately $18,000,000 will be spent, and 
has now been spent, in sewering 
this city. With this drainage sys- 
tem complete, the sewarage system 



now started, and with asphalt laid 
upon our streets as rapidly as possi- 
ble, in keeping with these improve- 
ments, you can readily appreciate 
that New Orleans is not asleep. It is 
your interest, it is our interest, it is 
the interest of every hamlet in the 
South that New Orleans be the great 
cosmopolitan city of the Southland. 
My brother delegates, you might 
say to me that this convention did 
not meet for the purpose of listen- 
ing to the progress of this city. My 
answer is that the progress of New 
Orleans is a part and parcel of that 
great Southland, which is your birth- 
right. 

"Fellow-delegates, the very men- 
tion of the Nicaragua Canal should 
move every one of you to make ex- 
traordinary efforts to accomplish 
this. There is none so dull but can 
see that if the canal is built you 
will have London on the Thames, 
New York on the Hudson, New Or- 
leans on the Mississippi, St. Peters- 
burg on the Neva. In other words, 
the Mississippi River, which drains 
one million and a quarter square 
miles of territory, must have on its 
bosom, by the laws of nature, some 
great city, some great cosmopolitan 
city. Sitting almost upon the Gulf of 
Mexico, backed by the waters of 
Lake Pontchartrain, seventy or 
eighty miles from the Gulf, here she 
sits the peerless queen, the city of 
her hopes and of her ambition. The 
city sometimes, in the past, full of 
tears, but now full of joy. A city 
that has reached a population of 300,- 
000. A city whose exports and im- 
ports, whose cotton, "vyhose manufac- 
turing industries, attract not only 
the attention of statisticians, uut 
gradually attract the attention of the 
people of the whole United States. 
Gentlemen, you might as well try 
to stem the current of the majestic 
river itself as to stem the growth 
of this great metropolis. Here every 
language is spoken. Here every 
creed and class worship as befit 
themselves. Here every one can find 
a home for peace and happiness. 
And let me say to you delegates, 
when you go home tell your neigh- 
bors and their children if they seek 
a city to make a home to come to 
this great and growing city of the 



222 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention 



South. A naturalist said that when 
an eagle built a nest every bird of 
the plain and of the wood brought 
something. So it seems to me that 
every other Southern State and every 
Southern delegate should bring 
something to build up this eagle's 
nest — this queen city of the South. 
This great naturalist said that to 
build up that eagle's nest some 
brought cinnamon, some crought 
Juniper, some brought something of 
greater or less value, and you of tnis 
industrial convention should realize 
the great connection between this 
great port and the development of 
the South, and should bring some- 
thing to build up the port. We of 
New Orleans, and especially of the 
Board of Trade, will always be in 
line to advance your interests, as 
well as our own. In fact, the con- 
nection is so close that one could not 
exist without the other. 

Gentlemen, one word about the 
canal, and I am done. It was said 
at one time that all roads lead to 
Rome, but, gentlemen, what object 
lesson does it teach — it appears that 
all ships would turn toward ■ the 
Crescent City. The power granted to 
Congress to regulate commerce has 
been executed partially by the pas- 
sage of the interstate commerce law, 
and other acts, to prescribe rules and 
conditions upon which it shall be ex- 



ecuted. Afterward duties can be 
levied by various means, but this law 
will be dwarfed, and its financial 
effect disastrous, if the constitutional 
authorities do not look further than 
the bounds of the United States to 
place the producer of the Southern 
States, by the cutting of the Nicar- 
agua Canal, in a position to compete 
with all other producers, especially 
the English, French and German 
producer. 

"With such a city, therefore, at the 
base of the Mississippi Valley, let 
us not be disheartened. Let us feel 
that the trade prosperity is upon us; 
let us feel that the hour of the 
South's misfortune is past, and let 
us feel the commercial activity and 
life, pulsating not only this city, but 
the entire Southern country, and we 
hope that when this convention as- 
sembles again to still further inform 
you of the progress of New Orleans. 
Gentlemen, I thank you. (Loud ap- 
plause.) 

Judge Bossier, of St. Tammany, 
submitted a resolution in regard to 
the importance of that parish as a 
health resort, emphasizing its excel- 
lent hygienic effects. 

The resolution was referred, with- 
out debate, to the Committee on res- 
olutions. 



THE WARRIOR RIVER CANAL. 

BY HON. J. A. VAN HOOSE. 



Hon. J. Van Hoose, of Birming- 
ham, was then introduced and read 
the following paper on the Warrior 
itiver Canal. He said: 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of 
the Convention: To me has been as- 
signed a subject so vast and far- 
reaching in its beneficial results to 
our entire country "that I place its 
national importance second only to 
the Nicaragua Canal." I grant you 
that this is bold language. Especial- 
ly to use in a convention of this 
character, where so many important 
matters have been ably selected and 
■still more ably presented and dis- 
cussed by representative men from 
all parts of America. Still, I use the 
language advisedly and am fortified 



in its use by the facts existing to-day 
in the industrial world. 

The feasibility and necessity of 
connecting the waters of the Ten- 
nessee with those of the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, by utilizing the Warrior or Coosa 
and Alabama Rivers had for years 
been the subject of discussion in 
Tennessee as well as in Alabama, 
and in 1875 the War Department 
caused Maj. McFarland to make a 
survey of a route from near Gun- 
tersville, on the Tennessee, to a point 
near Gadsden on the Coosa. 

In 1895 when I had the honor 
of being officially connected with 
the City of Birmingham, I 
deemed the time opportune to 
revive the discussion of this import- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-/, 1900. 



223 



ant subject, directing especial atten- 
tion to that phase of it which re- 
lated to connecting the Tennessee 
and Warrior Rivers through the 
heart of the Birmingham District. A 
preliminary reconnaissance was 
made by two skillful engineers, Mr. 
Julien Kendrick, city engineer of 
Birmingham, and Maj. John A. Mil- 
ner, of the southern division of this 
proposed connection. Their report 
was so favorable that Congress was 
asked to order a detailed survey. 
This survey was made in 1898 by Mr. 
Joseph Ripley, an expert on water- 
ways, who was especially detailed, on 
account of the great importance of 
the project, from the Government 
work on the Sault St. Marie Canal. 

That report came as a revelation 
even to those who for years had 
hoped and believed in a general way 
that it was possible. 

The project was pronounced "feas- 
ible and practicable" by erection of 
locks and dams, and was recommend- 
ed as a matter of the greatest na- 
tional importance. The Secretary of 
War approved this report, and in his 
annual report to Congress in 1899 
also recommended that the work be 
done. 

In times to come when its import- 
ance will be more generally appre- 
ciated there will be a continuous 
water-way from a point near Gun- 
tersville on the Tennessee River, 
passing through the heart of the 
Birmingham District to tide water at 
Mobile. The geological formation of 
the country conclusively proves that 
at one time either a large part, or 
perhaps all, of the waters of the Ten- 
nessee flowed southernly from near 
Guntersville and emptied into the 
Gulf through the Coosa and the War- 
rior Rivers. 

For the present, the work contem- 
plated refers only to the lower or 
southern division of this water-way, 
extending from Birmingham to tne 
Warrior River at a point about 25 
miles west of Birmingham, where 
connection will be made with the 
Warrior River proper, and from 
thence, down that river to the Gulf 
at Mobile. The estimated cost of the 
work at present under contempla- 
tion is about four and a half mil- 
lion dollars. The capacity of this 
water-way when improved will be 



about 11,000,000 tons per annum, or 
about half a million car loads at 25 
tons per car. This at once gives an 
idea of its vast carrying capacity. 

It is difficult, without transgress- 
ing the limits of veracity or propri- 
ety usually allowed one in speaking 
even of his own district or city, to 
convey to those unfamiliar with the 
facts, a correct impression of the 
immense resources of the country 
opened up by this water-way. Hence, 
Mr. Chairman, I am well aware that 
the world at large, at first views 
with amusement and more or less 
polite skepticism, many of the state- 
ments made by Birmingham and 
Alabama men in speaking of the re- 
sources and future of their District 
and State. And yet, truly, Nature 
has been so generous in her bestowal, 
especially of coal and iron to Ala- 
bama, and to the Birmingham Dis- 
trict, which is practically the heart 
of this great gift of Nature, that or- 
dinary language hardly conveys any 
idea of these inexhaustible resources. 
But so much has been written and 
said about these resources that I 
must now take it for granted that it 
is generally conceded by those who 
are competent to judge, that practi- 
cally no where on the known globe 
as yet discovered, do coking coal, 
iron ore and lime rock lie in such 
close juxta-position, and in such in- 
exhaustible quantities as they do in 
the famous Birmingham District. 
This brings up the question of tne 
importance and necessity of further 
opening up and making more acces- 
sible these resources, by a free, open 
all the year, water route down to 
tide water on the Gulf. And right 
here, permit me to briefly take up me 
question of the value of water-ways 
in general, since many casual think- 
ers and light talkers have the more 
or less prevailing idea that the use 
of inland water-ways is practically 
a thing of the past. This, Mr. Chair- 
man and Gentlemen of the Conven- 
tion, is a serious and almost a fatal 
blunder for any man, City, State or 
Country to commit in measuring re- 
sources or in attempting to better 
conditions. We often hear that "it 
is a day of railroads, not of water- 
ways." It is indeed "a day of rail- 
roads" and always will be. Equally 
true also is the assertion that short- 



224 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



ly will come a day for electric haul- 
age, propeller blades, steel barges, 
automatic lifts, shorter and straight- 
er routes on inland waters. No 
man is more willing than I to grant 
to railroads everything due them for 
the wonderful development of all 
countries through which they pass. 
No language can adequately estimate 
what the world owes to them for 
their beneficial results. And yet, 
water-ways always have and always 
will perform a function, which will 
be impossible for a railroad to per- 
form. The reason seems plain. With 
the present, or with the approximate- 
ly near future capacity on engines, 
rails, bridges, grades, cost of fuel, 
labor, maintenance, etc., railroads 
cannot and should not be expected 
to compete on heavy unremunerative 
freights with the slow, free water 
routes. Engines, men and tracks can 
be so much more profitably employed 
in carrying passengers, express, food, 
clothing and all articles which enter 
into the consumption and use of man 
or beast, and which must be handled 
quickly, that* there will always be a 
need of transportation by free water- 
ways of slower and heavier freights, 
not remunerative and hence not de- 
sirable to a railroad. The recent 
wonderful revival of the question of 
water transportation and the demand 
for the improvement of existing 
water-ways over the entire civilized 
globe, is a striking proof of the truth 
of these statements. Such instances 
as the Suez, Sault St. Marie and Man- 
chester Canals are all too well known 
to need extended comment. England 
has many canals in daily use, which 
are of vast service to her people and 
have done much in enabling England 
to maintain her supremacy in the 
manufacturing world. The large ex- 
penditures by Canada on her water- 
ways; the intention of the Emperor 
of Germany to make navigable ev- 
ery river in his Empire; Russia's 
vast projects for connecting the 
Black and the Baltic Seas; Pitts- 
burg's urgent demands for a free 
waterway to the lakes; the wonder- 
ful canal of Chicago, now merely 
doing duty as a sewer; the greater 
ship canal through which will some 
day pass ocean steamers up through 
the Hudson into the lakes, and lash 
their hawsers to the piers at Duluth; 



and lastly, the grandest, greatest of 
all, our Isthmian Canal, built and 
controlled by Americans, all prove 
the fallacy of such unthoughtful 
statements that "the use of inland 
water-ways is a thing of the past." 
- Permit me, even at the risk of be- 
ing a little tedious, to present in 
farther confirmation, the direct ben- 
efits to one single State from the con- 
struction of canals. The New York 
World of March 14th, 1900, contains 
certain facts and statements lur- 
nished by John D. Kernan, perhaps 
New York's greatest expert on ques- 
tions of transportation, which fur- 
nish food for thought and action. In 
an address delivered at Utica he uses 
the following language: "What the 
canals have done in the way of cre- 
ating wealth is shown by the fact 
that the canal counties have over 80 
per cent, of the State's population 
and over 90 per cent, of its wealth. 
Up to the time when it was made 
free, the Erie Canal had paid into the 
State Treasury the whole of its orig- 
inal cost, the whole cost of its main- 
tenance, and a clear profit of $42,- 
599,718. Even charging to it all that 
has been spent upon it, including the 
$7,000,000 squandered under Aldridge, 
there remains to that canal's credit 
in the State Treasury books the 
handy sum of $20,000,000." To these 
statements the World editorially 
adds: "This summary gives the very 
least of the services rendered by the 
canals. They have paid $360,000,000 
in freights to New York boatmen. 
They have built up cities, towns and 
villages. They have created facto- 
ries and multiplied employment for 
men. They have created wealth in 
incalculable sums, and they have 
maintained the commercial suprem- 
acy of the State and City. Let us 
make our grateful acknowledgements 
to the canals and provide for their 
improvement." 

Mr. Albert Fink, undoubtedly one 
of the most trusted authorities upon 
the question of railroad transporta- 
tion, stated: "That the railroads of 
New York State could afford to 
maintain and keep open at their own 
cost the Erie Canal, on account of its 
being such a regulator of freight 
rates." 

In an address delivered in 1898 
at Tuscaloosa, Ala., General Joe 



Held in Nczv Orleans, December 4-7, igoo. 



225 



Wheeler in speaking of this Warrior 
River Canal and the importance of 
opening up the Birmingham District 
to tide water, used the following lan- 
guage: "To give some idea of the 
capacity of water transportation, I 
would call attention to the fact that 
while the Erie Canal in 1897 was 
delivering 37,500,00,0 bushels of grain 
in New York, all the railroads which 
centered there, including the four- 
tracked Central, were delivering only 
28,000,000. What a stupendous iact 
is that!" 

Mr. Ripley who made the survey 
for this water-way to Birmingnam 
officially states after investigation 
that "the coal transportation from 
Pittsburg to New Orleans," — three 
times the distance from Birmingham 
to New Orleans, — "by river is re- 
munerative at one-third of a mill per 
ton per mile." In. face of such facts, 
let any man therefore, who values 
his reputation as a thinker or as one 
who looks broadly and closely at 
things, beware how he either ignores 
or scoffs at God's gifts of water-ways 
to His people and of their real place 
and value in the development of 
earth's resources and the betterment 
of humanity. 

If this be true of water-ways in 
general, of what value therefore, « 
would the opening up of the heart of 
the coal and iron fields of Alabama 
be to America? Permit me to an- 
swer this question by stating that 
last year Senator Morgan of Ala- 
bama in speaking of this proposed 
water-way used the following lan- 
guage: "I regard the opening up of 
the heart of the coal and iron fields 
of Alabama to tide water at all Gulf 
ports by means of free water trans- 
portation, of such vast importance to 
our whole country that I place it 
second only in its national import- 
ance to the Nicaragua Canal. In 
fact, I practically regard this water- 
way to Birmingham as the upper 
arm of the Nicaragua Canal. I ven- 
ture the assertion when these two 
things have been done by America, 
that the result will prove my state- 
ments." These words, Gentlemen, 
are statesmanlike and American, 
comprehensive in their grasp and far 
sighted in their vision. In present- 
ing the claims of this Birmingham 
water-way to many men prominent 



in the financial, manufacturing and 
commercial world, I have invariably 
met the same views entertained by 
the distinguished Senator from Ala- 
bama. I feel fully justified after 
many such interviews in saying that 
they regard it as wise to so handle 
America's resources and energies as 
to prevent, as far as possible, our 
different industrial centers from 
coming into injurious competition 
with each other. They believe that 
there is a point up to which reas- 
onable competition quickens and 
benefits a people, but that senseless 
and needless competition injures. It 
lowers wages, injures capital, makes 
men discontented, and in general, 
wastes the energies and resources of 
a people. They believe that the 
markets of the world are wide and 
profitable and that Alabama coal and 
iron should have an outlet by a free 
waterway, open all the year around, 
never obstructed by ice, to ports like 
Mobile, New Orleans, Pensacola, Gal- 
veston, so that from all Gulf ports 
they could take shipping for foreign 
markets. No other iron and coal dis- 
trict on the known globe lies so near 
the sea as does this Alabama Dis- 
trict. Its natural outlet, therefore, 
is down Valley and Warrior Rivers 
and out to the sea. 

Mr. James Bowron, first vice-pres- 
ident and treasurer of the Tennessee 
Coal, Iron & Railroad Company, is 
properly considered an authority as 
to how America would be benefited 
■by thus opening up this district. In 
an open letter to the Times-Demo- 
crat, in August, 1899, he expressed 
himself to the effect that only and 
by and through this water-way could 
the Alabama district properly attain 
the position that waa naturally due 
it. He says that although now trans- 
ported by rail, "Alabama coal is car- 
ried 275 miles and placed along side 
steamers at Mobile or Pensacola, ton 
for ton, and quality for quality, dol- 
lar for dollar, against English steam 
coal put on board ship at the vari- 
ous ports in the north of England, 
Newcastle-on-Tyne, Sunderland, etc., 
and this being the case, it is evident 
that even a saving of 50 cents per 
ton in getting clown to tide water on 
coal from Birmingham, would give 
the Alabama field an advantage in 
supplying foreign trade, which could 



226 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



not be gain-sayed or successfully re- 
sisted by any other country. In fact, 
it means the supremacy of America 
on the high seas for coal and iron." 
When it is remembered that Mr. 
Bowron was born and reared in Eng- 
land, is a practical iron expert from 
Newcastle-on-Tyne, such statements 
as these are of vital importance, and 
should urge every American who be- 
lieves in America's future and des- 
tiny to have the Government im- 
prove this water-way and let Ala- 
bama coal and iron win for America 
in tbe foreign markets, both honor 
and profit. 

Speaking to a Western member of 
the Rivers and Harbors Committee 
about this proposed water-way he 
used the following prophetic lan- 
guage: "Not only will steel barges 
deliver iron and coal from the Bir- 
mingham District to Mobile, New Or- 
leans and Galveston by an inland 
route, but the same barges, whale- 
backed, will go to Pensacola, Cuba, 
Puerto Rico, through the Isthmian 
Canal and unload on the Pacific 
Coast." If all this will help Amer- 
ica in general, who can properly es- 
timate what it means to every Gulf 
State and every Gulf port? Without 
any reference to lumber, lime, mar- 
ble, cotton, building-stone, a tremen- 
dous impetus would be given to ev- 
ery Gulf port for coaling foreign 
steamers, and for manufacturing, if 
coal, coke, iron and steel were laid 
down at their docks at anything like 
the cost of transportation which is 
officially stated to be remunerative 
for coal on the Mississippi from 
Pittsburg to New Orleans; namely, 
"one-third of one mill per ton per 
mile." 

I have it from good authority that 
some years ago the Rothchilds after 
careful investigation tnrough experts 
sent for the purpose, declared that 
they regarded the Gulf of Mexico 
as destined to be the Mediterranean 
of the Western Hemisphere; and that 
in time to come the cities on the Gulf 
would be the great reservoirs for re- 
ceiving the commerce of foreign na- 
tions, and for delivering the products 
and manufactures of the States trib- 
utary to them; that, on account of 
geographical and climatic condi- 
tions, the States bordering on the 
Gulf were destined to be the future 



seats of the busiest, most prosperous 
locations of man in the Western 
Hemisphere. 

I am warned by your motto, "No 
Sectionalism," not to undertake to 
Localize or to limit to any one point 
or section, the benefits of this open 
water-way, leading up to the heart 
of the coal and iron fields of Ala- 
bama. And yet I cannot resist the 
opportunity, may I not more correct- 
ly say cannot be guilty of the want 
of courteous regard, in making at 
least a brief mention of what this 
water-way means to the citizens and 
to the interests of this city, whose 
hospitality we have all enjoyed. 
Practically, men of New Orleans, no 
limits can be placed upon the bene- 
fits which your city would derive 
from cheap coal, iron and steel un- 
loading at your docks from steel 
barges, right out from the heart of 
the coal and iron fields of Alabama. 
Men are accustomed to measure 
things, distances and values by fig- 
ures, and hence, the old adage that 
"figures do not lie." You have built 
up a wonderful city, mainly upon 
one product, namely, cotton. In tniS, 
I do not intend for a moment to ig- 
nore your claims as a sugar, rice 
or grain market. But, inasmuch as 
for years you have been so success- 
ful in winning wealth and influence 
through the handling of cotton, per- 
mit me to lay before you some fig- 
ures upon the tonnage which the 
Alabama water-ways, in connection 
with your Lake Borgne Canal, opens 
up as a possibility to your citizens. 
I quote from an address delivered be- 
fore the New Orleans Progressive 
Union last June by the Hon. H. 
Dudley Coleman of this city, words 
which I trust will never prove tedi- 
ous to any American, and which 
should thrill the heart of every man 
who wishes well for New Orleans 
and would delight to see her further 
extend her usefulness and influence: 
"The capacity in tons of coal possi- 
ble to be shipped through these im- 
provements aggregate 15,000,000 tons 
per annum. This represents 20,000 
trains of 25 cars each, or half a mil- 
lion coal cars of 60,000 lbs., 30 tons 
capacity each; 15,000,000 short tons 
of 2,000 lbs. each, which equals in 
weight six entire annual crops of 
American cotton at 10,000,000 bales 



Held in New Orleans } December 4-7 1900. 



227 



per annum. Granting that New Or- 
leans receives 2,000,000 bales of cot- 
ton per annum, all of which is not 
exported, it would take 30 years' re- 
ceipts of cotton to equal one year's 
capacity of Alabama coal output 
through the Birmingham and War- 
rior River Canal and the Coosa 
River improvements. With proper 
railroad facilities and terminals New 
Orleans ought to export in coal alone 
every year ten times the weight of 
all the cotton she now receives." I 
do not see how anything can be 
added to such statements, especially 
when they seem absolutely correct. 
The time will come, and it will come 
just as quickly as you men who have 
your homes and interests in New 
Orleans, say that it shall come, when 
to her other sources of wealth and 
growth will be added manufacturing. 
Given cheap coal, iron, steel and 
lumber, no reasonable limit can or 



should be placed upon what she could 
manufacture. The location of foun- 
dries, machine shops, ship yards and 
great docks are no idle dreams. They 
will assume visible form and stand 
as facts just as soon as you New 
Orleans men say they shall be build- 
ed, and shall stand as lasting monu- 
ments to your far-sightedness and 
energy. And finally, best of all, 
speaking as an American to Ameri- 
cans, what is true of New Orleans 
will be true of every Gulf City. What 
is true of Alabama and Louisiana 
will be true of every Gulf and border- 
ing State. This new life, the per- 
manent prosperity enjoyed by these 
States, will be reflected and distri- 
buted in the interchange of products 
from every other State in the Un- 
ion, and it will all add to the hap- 
piness, prosperity and greatness of 
America. (Applause.) 



SELECTION OF PLACE OF MEETING. 



Chairman Story: The time has 
now arrived for the Convention to 
decide upon its next place of meet- 
ing, and the election of its officers. 

Ex-Mayor B. H. Noonan, of St. 
Louis: Mr. Chairman, I desire to 
nominate Memphis, Tenn., as the 
place of assemblage for the next 
Convention, and I trust that the del- 
egates to this Convention will vote 
in support of this selection. Mem- 
phis is the central point of the 
Southern States and is in every re- 
spect eminently suited to the con- 
venience of the delegates from the 
various States as holding the Con- 
vention at Memphis would mean a 
minimum of expense to these dele- 
gates. No less than twelve railways 
enter the City. Its hotel service is 
of the finest in the land and by the 
time that the next Convention is held 
the new Gayoso Hotel, now in pro- 
cess of erection, will no doubt be 
completed, so that there will be am- 
ple accommodation there for all the 
delegates that the Association can 
induce to attend. Memphis is the 
largest inland cotton market in the 
world, and the largest cotton-seed 
market in the United States. It is 
moreover one of the most important 
manufacturing cities in the South, 



although it has not by any means yet 
reached the limit of its possibilities 
in that respect. 

There is one feature of the work 
of this Association which can be best 
served by holding the Convention in 
the City of Memphis. One of the 
principal objects of this Association 
is to bring about the improvement 
of the Mississippi River and its trib- 
utaries, for that improvement means 
the development of the entire West 
and South on every line which has 
been laid down by this Association. 
Therefore, the selection of the City 
of Memphis, situated as it is on the 
Mississippi River will be the means 
of keeping that great body of run- 
ning water before the eyes of the 
Convention and thus help forward its 
aims. It may also be mentioned that 
the preparation which will be made 
about that time for the reception of 
the Confederate Veterans will con- 
tribute an important feature towards 
the interest of a Convention in Mem- 
phis at that particular season. In 
my opinion it would be unwise to 
take the Convention elsewhere at a 
time when the Association is yet in 
its infancy. I therefore nominate 
Memphis as the next meeting place 
for this Convention. (Applause.) 



228 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



Mr. Reilly, of Memphis, seconded 
the nomination of that city. 

The nomination was supported by 
Mr. H. T. Lawler of New Orleans, 
Mr. Cobb of Pensacola, Judge Bos- 
sier of New Orleans, and Mr. J. B. 
Gibson of Alabama. Mr. Gibson said 
that he agreed with Mr Noonan in 
thinking that there would be danger 
in taking the Convention to an ex- 
treme point. 

Mayor J. W. Riggins, of Waco, 
Texas: Mr. Chairman, I desire to 
speak for Texas, and to nominate as 
the next meeting place of this Con- 
vention the hub of. Texas, which is 
Waco. I may say, Mr. Chairman, 
that I am in favor of an open-door 
policy and of an open-mouth policy, 
and I believe that people should be 
either men or mice. I have been ac- 
cused of making a trade in the in- 
terest of Texas during the last few 
days, but I must disown that impu- 
tation. I am a reformed business 
man and was elected Mayor of Waco 
on that platform without giving 
either a nickel cigar or a glass of 
beer for a vote. 

Yes, gentlemen, we invite you to 
hold your next Convention in the 
State of Texas, a State which has in- 
creased enormously in wealth and 
population within recent years. We 
invite you to Texas, a State which 
has mines of forests, a State whose 
climate is more favorable to human 
life and longevity than the birth- 
place of man. Here are prairie lands 
richer than the Valley of the Nile 
and wealth too fabulous for speech. 
We invite you to Texas, having the 
lowest taxation of any State in the 
Union; Texas, whose great natural 
resources and richness can only be 
measured by the man whose patri- 
otic comprehension extends from 
ocean to ocean. We invite you to 
Texas whose confines are only lim- 
ited to the setting sun on the West, 
and whose northern borders are 
fanned by the apron-strings of the 
twentieth century women in Kansas; 
Texas, a State so large that if you 
take a map and fold it upon the east- 
ern extreme, El Paso will lay in the 
Atlantic Ocean; if you fold it on the 
extreme north, Galveston will lay 
north of St. Paul; a State which pro- 
duces one-third of the entire cotton 
crop of the United States, third only 



in railroad mileage, sixth only in 
population; and notwithstanding 
that there is only a little over twen- 
ty per cent, increase in the popula- 
tion of the United States in the last 
ten years, Texas shows an increase 
of over thirty-six per cent, in ten 
years, having a population of three 
million people. She shows nearly as 
much increase as all the New Eng- 
land States put together, a State that 
in twenty years has thrown away ruf- 
fianism, six-shooterism, broad-brim- 
med hats, and has taken the pants 
out of her boots, wears derby hats, 
speaks the choicest language, and 
has made the longest strides toward 
prosperity and civilization of any 
country in the world. She has a soil 
which responds more liberally then 
that of any other section or coun- 
try to the work of mankind, and she 
has climatic conditions and commer- 
cial surroundings unequalled. 

If there has been a man in this 
Convention who has not asked me 
about some friend in Texas I am not 
able to recall it. The only thing 
that we need is the pluck and grit 
and money represented in this In- 
dustrial Convention to transform our 
State into an industrial paradise on 
earth. We invite you to Texas, and 
as it will be impossible for you to 
spread all over the State, we invite 
you to the hub, Waco, a city stand- 
ing in the geographical center, 
which, in a few years, will be the 
head of navigation of the Brazos 
River. Its population has increased 
in the last ten years forty-two per 
cent. We have a county with a pop- 
ulation of sixty thousand already. It 
is a city where the long staple Brazos 
bottom cotton is marketed, the cot- 
ton that commands the highest price 
in the world outside of the sea is- 
land. We invite you to our city, the 
Athens, not only of Texas, but of 
the South. This Athens with its 
splendid free school system, two uni- 
versities, colleges and private 
schools, is a city that has the lar- 
gest proportion of refined and intel- 
ligent people of any city in America. 
It is a city whose women in their 
loveliness and _ beauty are not 
equalled by the rainbow tints, whose 
cheeks bear as lovely a hue as the 
full blown rose, and whose intelli- 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



22 9 



gen?e, and refining ways, would lift 
you or any other set of men to a 
higher plane in life. 

We invite you to Waco, Texas, to 
hold your next meeting, and prom- 
ise you such hospitality and cordial 
greeting such as only the Geyser 
City, Waco, knows how to extend. 
(Applause.) 

Mr. Little, of San Antonio, sec- 
onded the nomination of Waco. 

Mr. Emerson Bentley, of Shreve- 
port: I had been instructed to in- 
vite the Convention to the City of 
Shreveport, but having discovered 
that a sentiment exists that a State 
which has already had the Conven- 
tion should not get it again, but that 
some other State should have the op- 
portunity, it has been decided not to 
press the claims of our city. The 
Convention having already been held 
in Tennessee, the same argument 
would apply as against Memphis, and 
for that reason I am inclined to sup- 



port the claims of Waco as the next 
meeting place. 

Mr. Justin F. Denechaud, of New 
Orleans, and Mr. McCoy, of Lake 
Charles, supported the nomination of 
Waco. 

Col. Jerome Hill, of Memphis, re- 
asserted the claims of the Bluff City, 
after which on motion all further 
nominations were closed. 

After some discussion as to now 
the vote should be taken, Acting 
Chairman Sidney Story, ruled that 
every person present should be con- 
sidered a delegate, and requested 
those in favor of Memphis to take 
seats on the right side of the hall, 
while those who supported Waco 
seated themselves on the left. The 
vote being counted it was found that 
Memphis had secured the next meet- 
ing of the Convention, by a large 
majority, and on motion of Mr. Rig- 
gins the selection of Memphis was 
made unanimous. 



ELECTION OE OFFICERS. 



Chairman Story then declared the 
election of officers to be the next 
order of the day. 

Mr. Ousley of Texas placed in nom- 
ination the name of President H. H. 
Hargrove. He said that no man was 
better fitted to fill the position than 
the present president, whose quali- 
ties had been proven, and that while 
he had differed with him on the floor 
on one occasion during the proceed- 
ings, yet he had the highest possi- 
ble opinion of his qualities both of 
heart and mind, and of the splendid 
work he had done for the Associa- 
tion. He therefore nominated Mr. 
Hargrove for a second term. 

Mr. H. T. Lawler, of New Orleans, 
seconded the nomination. 

Mr. Edwin Brobston, of Georgia: 
Mr. Chairman, I desire to place be- 
fore the Convention for the honor of 
president, the name of Mr. W. A. 
Hemphill, the manager and president 
of the "Atlanta Constitution." 

To quote from the inimitable ad- 
dress delivered by General Gordon 
on the opening day of this Conven- 
tion, I desire to say that "Georgia 
is in line," and she offers for this 
honorable office the name of one cf 



her most distinguished sons, who has 
grown gray in the cause of South- 
ern development — a man who linked 
f ci tunes with cur immortal Grady 
nearly a mar tor century ago and 
began building for Atlanta, for Geor- 
gia, for the Scuthj for the nation ! 
Together they worked, together they 
builded, an-1 while neither ever neld 
political office the one is known 
throughout the length of this land, 
and the memory of the other has a 
sacred immortality in the hearts of 
this nation. 

I present the name of W. A. Hemp- 
hill, whose great paper knows noth- 
ing except to love the South, whether 
it be Texas or Louisiana or Georgia 
or Tennessee. 'Tis ready to lend a 
helping hand, and for this grand man 
to let me say he asks no greater boon 
than to be able to die in the harness 
of well-doing, so that when he cross- 
es to that fair land beyond the stars 
and shall greet the loving soul of his 
great partner he can say, " 'Twas 
you who planted the seeds; I have 
come to describe the flowers and 
tell you our Southland now blossoms 
as the rose." 
. Mr. Kelly, of Philadelphia, Pa., sec- 



230 



Minutes of The Southern industrial Convention, 



onded the nomination of Mr. Hemp- 
hill. 

Mr. R. H. Henry, of Mississippi, 
said that he wished to support the 
nomination of Mr. Hargrove for the 
second term. Mr. Hargrove was a 
native of Mississippi, and the people 
of his State were proud of him. 

Mr. Gi'ubbs, of Texas, in support- 
ing Mr. Hargrove said he believed 
that where a man had served one 
term faithfully he deserved to be re- 
elected, and Mr. Hargrove had really 
served only half a term during which 
he had proved his eminent fitness for 
-the office he held. 

Mr. Tom L. Cannon, of St. Louis, 
supported the nomination of Mr. 
Hemphill saying that the Conven- 
tion needed a man who could reach 
the inner circle of legislation and 
that in this respect Mr. Hemphill 
would be able to do good work. 

Mr. J. M. Shivers, of Mississippi, 
■spoke in support of Mr. Hargrove, 
saying that he did not know where 
that gentleman was born, but one 
thing he did know, and that was that 
he was the cause of this gathering. 

A rising vote was called for by 
Chairman Story, but just at that 
moment Mr. Hemphill made his way 
to the platform where he made an 
appeal i«t unity, and proposed that 
Mr. Hargrove be elected president by 
acclamation. Mr. Hemphill contin- 
uing said that he desired no greater 
honor than to be with Waco in vic- 
tory or defeat. This was a labor of 
love and he wished for nothing more 
than to work under the motto of the 
Association. 

Mr. Hemphill then spoke of the 
great development in cotton manu- 
facturing, iron manufacturing and 
coal mining, which were combining 
to establish the commercial greatness 
of the South. The people might 
sometimes feel discouraged, but let 
them say in the words of the pro- 
phet, "They that be with us are more 
than they that be against us." Above 
all things let us be united, for in 
unity was strength. Each section 
should rejoice in the industrial devel- 
opment of the others. The sentiment 
of the people towards each other 
should be that expressed in the beau- 
tiful words of Ruth to Naomi. 

In conclusion Mr. Hemphill said: 
"Peeling these sentiments, and with 



an earnest desire for the success of 
this Association, I want to make 
the election of Mr. Hargro/e unani- 
mous, and to extend my right hand 
and promise my assistance, and not 
only mine, but that of the great )ia- 
per that I represent." (Applause.) 

The nomination of Mr. Hargrove 
was then made unanimous, and he 
was declared elected amid great en- 
thusiasm, while a vote of thanks was 
extended to Mr. Hemphill. 

Mr. M. J. Sanders, of New Orleans, 
said that Mr. Hargrove's re-election 
was the result of the good work that 
he had done for the Association, and 
carried with it the re-election of Sec- 
retary Thompson, whose name be 
placed in nomination. 

Hon. J. P. Coffin, of Florida, sec- 
onded the nomination which was 
supported by Mr. Gibson, of Alaba- 
ma, and many other delegates, no 
other name but Mr. Thompson's be- 
ing mentioned. 

Mr. Thompson was unanimously 
elected Secretary of the Association. 

In response to a demand for Mr. 
Hargrove, the president elect, that 
gentleman was sent for, and on 
reaching the platform met with an 
enthusiastic reception, which he 
gracefully acknowledged, and re- 
turning thanks for the honor con- 
ferred upon him, said: 

"I appreciate the compliment tf 
re-election for it is an evidence of 
esteem which I can hardly find words 
to acknowledge. I can only say that 
I give back to you the compliment 
of your loving action. I thank you 
from the bottom of my heart, and 
will say that I will discharge the 
duties imposed upon me to the best 
of my ability. I have never laid 
down the flag when placed in my 
hands, and will not do so now. If 
I fail, it will be due to the head md 
not the heart. 

"Let us have the next Convention 
so big that there will not be a hall 
in Memphis large enough to accom- 
modate it. Let us get a big member- 
ship and great results will be re- 
turned. Again I tender you my 
heartfelt. thanks for your manifesta- 
tion of confidence." (Applause.) 

Mr. W. A. Hemphill was then in- 
dorsed for first vice-president. 



Held in New Orleans } December 4-7 igoo. 



231 



Mr. Gibson, of Alabama, indorsed 
Mr. J. C. Bush, of Mobile, for vice- 
president for Alabama. 

Hon. Sidney Story was named as 
vice-president for Louisiana. 
Staff of Officers. 
President — H. H. Hargrove, of 
Shreveport, La. 

Secretary — N. F. Thompson, of 
Huntsville, Ala. ' 

First vice-president — W. A. Hemp- 
hill, of Atlanta, Ga. 

Vice-Presidents. 
John P. Coffin, Florida. 
Sidney Story, Louisiana. 
J. C. Bush, Alabama. 
J. W. Riggins, Texas. 
Thomas L. Cannon, Missouri. 
Gov. A. K. Longino, Mississippi. 



Frank Hill, Arkansas. 
J. B. Killebrew, Tennessee. 
D. A. Tomkins, North Carolina. 
W. B. Smith Whaley, South Caro- 
lina. 

B. F. Johnson, Virginia. 
M. H. Kline, Pennsylvania. 

C. F. Huhlein, Kentucky. 

Hon. Sidney Story: I move that 
the chairman of each delegation re- 
ceive the dues of his delegation, and 
pay same to the secretary. 

This was adopted. 

It being now 2 P. M., and the con- 
vention having sat in continuous ses- 
sion since 10 A. M., it was resolved 
that the Convention now adjourn un- 
til 7:30 P. M. 



FRIDAY NIGHT'S SESSIOX. 



Hon. Sidney Story occupied the 
chair and called the last session of 
the Convention to order at 7:30 P. 



M., introducing as the first speaker 
Hon. Dudley Coleman, of New Or- 
leans. 



COOSA EIVEE. 



BY HON. H. DUDLEY COLEMAN. 



Hon. Dudley Coleman, of New Or- 
leans, said: Mr. Chairman and Gen- 
tlemen of the Convention: Before 
speaking to you on the subject of the 
Coosa River I desire to read a let- 
ter which I have received from Mr. 
W. P. Lay, Chairman of the Coosa 
River Improvement Committee, at 
Gadsden, Ala., dated Dec. 4th, 1900, 
which is as follows: 

"My Dear Sir: Your telegram 
just to hand telling me that you 
would represent the Coosa River in 
the Industrial Convention, for which 
let me thank you. If you will kind- 
ly pardon me', I will say that I find 
one of the best points made on the 
Coosa River subject is the magnitude 
of the river, which you will see be- 
ginning on page four of the memo- 
rial, and ending on page five. This 
has attracted more attention than 
almost any other thing pertaining to 
the river, for it was quite a revela- 
tion to many people. The fact is 
that at low water the Coosa River 
is the largest stream in the South, 
except the Mississippi. When I 
sprung this question in Washington 



before the committee they were quite 
surprised, and when the Government 
engineer came up before them they 
asked him about the statement that 
I had made, and he replied that I 
had stated it correctly. Then there 
is another point. If you will look on 
the map you will see that the Coosa 
River passes almost as near Birming- 
ham as the Warrior. Then it prac- 
tically takes in Montgomery, We- 
tumpka, Talladega, Anniston, Pied- 
mont, Gadsden, Rome and the head 
waters of the Coosa run within about 
twenty-five miles of Chattanooga, 
Tenn. Then the east fork of the 
river at Rome reaches out near At- 
lanta, Ga., making the Coosa the only 
possible water-way that could ever 
be any benefit to Atlanta. 

"The Coosa River is the one great 
trunk line of water-way intended for 
Alabama by Nature. The Hon. Dealva 
S. Alexander, of New York, one 
of the Rivers and Harbors Commit- 
teemen, that was down here on the 
recent trip of inspection was quite 
struck with the idea that the Coosa 
River should be made the great 
trunk line of waterway for all that 



232 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



portion of the country, and he made 
a spee;-li at Mobile on this line, set- 
ting out all these facts. I speak of 
these things just to give you point- 
ers as to what seems to be most at- 
tractive, or at least has proven so 
up to this time, so that you can con- 
sider them as you think proper in 
your address. 

"Kindly pardon me and don't think 
me presumptious for writing you 
this way, for I want you to act as 
you think best, but I thought it 
might be well to mention these facts. 
Kindly let me know how you come 
out, and send me papers of the pro- 
ceedings. Wishing you much suc- 
cess, I am very respectfully, 

W. P. LAY." 

Mr. Coleman said: I deem it ap- 
propriate, Mr. Chairman, that I hap- 
pened to have been selected by Mr. 
Lay to place the Coosa River sub- 
ject before the Convention, for the 
reason that I have given considera- 
tion to the question of cheap coal for 
New Orleans, and last spring I read a 
paper before the New Orleans Pro- 
gressive Union on the subject of 
cheap coal for New Orleans, realiz- 
ing that cheap coal is one of the 
most, if not the most, important fac- 
tor in the line of developing manu- 
factures. I wish to state that I have 
no direct interest in the Coosa Val- 
ley, or in the improvements of the 
Coosa River, but being a citizeu and 
resident of New Orleans, 1 am inter- 
ested in anything that benefits the 
city. I believe that with the open- 
ing of the Coosa River Channel or 
the Coosa River Canal, as it is some- 
times called, a new territory will be 
opened to this City that will bene- 
fit very materially the commercial 
and manufacturing interests of the 
city. 

Mr. Coleman then read the follow- 
ing paper: 

When Christopher Columbus plead- 
ed for financial assistance to enable 
him to prove that his theory was cor- 
rect concerning the undiscovered 
land in the then far west, he little 
dreamed of what was to follow his 
discovery. When he returned from 
his successful voyage to compensate 
his good friend, Queen Isabella, for 
her faith in him and for the import- 
ant aid she had rendered him by 



pledging her jewels to secure his 
ships and outfit, he took with him 
physical evidences of the new world 
he had visited. It is well that he 
was not permitted to conceive the 
wonders and wonderful industrial de- 
velopment that were to be recorded 
by American science, invention, in- 
dustry and valor, co-operating with 
Nature's gifts to America of land and 
sea, mountains, valleys and plains, 
forests and streams. The little Co- 
lumbus knew of things ne saw and 
felt; to know they were real was 
enough to cause him to be consid- 
ered visionary, dreamy and unreli- 
able. Suppose for an instant he 
could have prophesied then the pres- 
ent ' conditions, commercial, agricul- 
tural and industrial of our Nation — 
how supremely extreme would have 
been, not his reward, but his punish- 
ment. 

Mr. Chairman, the world knows 
of the present great prosperity 
of , this nation. This prosperity 
so general, so ample, that the 
Southern States participate in 
and enjoy it to a grand extent — as 
evidenced by the following quotation 
from the Manufacturer's Record of 
November 22nd, relating only to 
cotton, cotton seed, and their pro- 
ducts: "Southern Wealth in Cotton." 
"The South's cotton this year will 
be worth from $450,000,000 to $500,- 
000,000, against an average of $300,- 
000,000 of late years, an increase of 
from $150,000,000 to $200,000,000. In- 
cluding the seed, the value of the 
cotton crop will exceed $500,000,000. 

Southern mills will consume prod- 
ably 1,750,000 bales, against 1,500,- 
000 bales last year. This cotton, 
which will cost Southern mills about 
$75,000,000 to $80,000,000, will in its 
manufactured shape be worth more 
than $225,000,000, thus adding $150,- 
000,000 in the process of manufac- 
ture. To this add an estimate of 
$100,000,000 as the value of cotton- 
seed oil, hulls, etc., and it is found 
that the cotton crop will this year 
yield to the South the following: 

Cotton and seed.. ■ $500,000,000 

Added value of cotton 

manufactured in South 150,000,000 
Value of oil, hulls, cake, 

etc 100,000,000 

Total $750,000,000 



Held in New Orleans, Dccembei 4-/, igoo. 



233 



This is one of the many stories — 
this one being worth $750,000,000— 
forming the foundations for the 
South's structure. 

I do not deem it necessary to pre- 
sent at this time an array of fig- 
ures to prove the general prosperity 
prevailing throughout the Southern 
States, hut simply refer to the im- 
mense fruit crop sold at good prices; 
to the large rice crdp, and the good 
prices it brought; to the good pros- 
pects of the Louisiana sugar plant- 
ers; to the active prosperity of the 
saw mill or lumber and timber in- 
terests. To the coal, iron, salt, sul- 
pher, and to the hog crop, live stock 
and dairy crops, eggs, poultry and 
garden truck, all are factors in the 
whirl of active business prosperity 
marked by the crowded condition of 
passenger trains and the scarcity of 
freight cars to move the goods that 
are offered. Banks' clearings and 
statements published, show a mone- 
tary and financial condition that in- 
dicates prosperity all along the line. 

I refer to these conditions to show 
that I realize and appreciate them, 
and to emphasize my statement that 
this prosperity can be made more 
prosperous by the completion of the 
Coosa River improvements, by the 
Federal Government, at an expense 
of six millions of dollars provided 
for by a continuing contract approp- 
riation of that amount divided into 
six annual payments of one million 
dollars each, payable only when one 
million dollars worth of work shall 
have been done. 

The statements made by Christo- 
pher Columbus of what he saw in 
the New World were considered ex- 
travagant by his hearers. So my 
statements regarding the Coosa Val- 
ley, and what may be expected by 
the improvement of the Coosa River 
channel might be considered more 
extravagant, if I did not have the 
positive proof to the contrary. 

Magnitude of the River. 
The Coosa river rises in the moun- 
tains of North Georgia, and flows 
southwesterly and southerly until it 
helps to form the Alabama river a 
few miles below Wetumpka, Alaba- 
ma. 

It is formed by a junction of the 
Oostanaula and Etowah rivers at 



Rome, Georgia. From the most 
northerly navigable point the dis- 
tance along these streams to the 
Gulf of Mexico is as follows: 

Oostanaula river 108 miles 

Coosa river 315 '" 

Alabama river 390 " 

Mobile river 50 

Total 863 " 

There would be a continuous wate^r 
route of transportation over the 
bosom of these rivers to the Gulf, 
but for the shoals and rapids on the 
Coosa river, distributed only over a 
distance of one hundred and forty- 
two miles from Greensport to We- 
tumpka, Alabama, and these shoals 
and rapids are intermingled with 
long pools of deep water. However, of 
this distance, there has been opened 
to navigation by the government im- 
provement of the river about 35 or 
40 miles from Greensport, down to 
Lock Four, Alabama. 

The Coosa river is not one of those 
insignificant streams, upon which 
often large sums of money are spent 
without avail, but to the contrary, it 
is a deep, bold running and beautiful 
stream, its grandeur and beauty is 
excelled by none, with sufficient 
water for successful low water navi- 
gation for boats drawing four feet 
of water or less, if the water was 
properly concentrated over the shoals 
and rapids between Lock Four and 
Wetumpka, Alabama. 

To give a more correct idea of the 
magnitude of the river and its pos- 
sibilities, we quote from the report 
of Charles Frith, U. S. Assistant 
Engineer, in his report of Nov. 24, 
1888, in which he says: "Velocity ob- 
servations taken at Lock Four show 
a discharge of 3,921 cu. ft., with a 
velocity of 1 and 33/100 feet per 
second, at a stage of 1 8/10 feet above 
low water. Similar observations at 
Wetumpka, at low water, show a 
discharge of 5,796 cu. ft, with a ve- 
locity of 0.9 feet per second." 

In the annual report of the Chief 
of Engineers for 1879, page 1203, the 
low water discharge of the Missis- 
sippi river at St. Paul is given at 
5800 cu. feet per second. In the re- 
port for 1880, page 480, the low water 
discharge of the Hudson river >e- 
tween Troy and Albany 1? given as 
about 2000 cu. feet per second; and 



234 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



in the report for 1881, page 1929, the 
low water discharge of the Ohio 
river at Pittsburg is givcz as 1666 
cu. feet at zero of the gauge, and as 
5810 cu. feet per second at nine 
inches of the gauge. 

Comparing these discharges with 
that of the Coosa river at Wetumpka, 
it appears that the volume of the 
water flowing in the Coosa at low 
water is about equal to that of the 
Mississippi at St. Paul; about 2 and 
8/10 times greater than that of the 
Hudson at Albany; and about 3 and 
5/10 times greater than that in the 
Ohio at Pittsburg. 

Geological Formation. 

The source of the Coosa river is 
in the mountains of North Georgia, 
which is a part of the great Appa- 
lachian chain of mountains running 
almost across the continent of North 
America from northeast to south- 
west. Where the flow of the river is 
southwest in course with the Appa- 
lachian chain, we find deep water, 
but below Gadsden, Alabama, the 
river deflects to the south, cutting 
diagonally across the strata of 
faulted rocks so characteristic with 
this chain of mountains and depend- 
ancies, and the alternate shoals, 
rapids and pools of deep water that 
characterize this portion of tne 
Coosa, is attributable to the differ- 
ent ledges of rock it crosses in its 
southern course. The meanderings 
of the river as it flows southwest 
crossing the valley from side to side 
through fertile fields of agriculture 
intermingled with rich mineral and 
timber deposits, make it accessible 
to almost every formation and por- 
tion of the valley, and the fact that 
this portion of the country is the 
southwestern extremity of the great 
Appalachian chain accounts for the 
presence of so large a number of 
valuable minerals in the Coosa val- 
ley and is a geological sequence. 
The Coosa Valley. 

The drainage area of the Coosa 
basin above Wetumpka, including its 
tributaries, is about 6850 square 
miles, which is rich in agriculture, 
forests and minerals. 

The climate of the valley is salu- 
brious, mild and temperate, the 
springs are early and wonderfully 
balmy, the summers are long, and 
even in temperature, the autumns are 



late and dry, and the winters are so 
slow of approach and so mild that 
some portions of the crops are fre- 
quently left out in the fields until 
after Christmas. 

That part of the valley lying in 
Georgia is bounded on the northwest 
by the Lookout Mountain, on the 
southeast by the line of hills or 
mountains embracing the gold belt 
of Georgia. This region is traversed 
by the waters of the Coosawattee, 
Connosawga, Oostanaula, Etowah, 
and Chattanooga rivers and Big Ce- 
dar Creek and their tributaries, all of 
whose waters help to form the Coosa. 

These river basins and mountain 
sides are densely timbered with hard 
woods. The white oak region of the 
Chattanooga range covers about 500 
square miles and still possesses the 
greater portion of its virgin forests. 
This region embraces a population 
of about 225,000 and covers an area 
of 6,000 square miles of productive 
soil and unsurpassed mineral re- 
sources. 

The drainage area of the Coosa 
basin is about 7,000 square miles, 
which is in its rich agricultural, for- 
est and mineral resources beyond 
comparison. The present annual pro- 
duction of the valley of the Coosa 
will approximate in round numbers, 
four millions of tons, divided as fol- 
lows: 

Cotton 50,000 tons 

Cotton Seed 100,000 tons 

Corn 222,000 tons 

Oats 40,500 tons 

Wheat 67,500 tons 

Cattle, Sheep, Hogs .... 20,000 tons 

Tons Value. 
Total agricul- 
tural products. 500,000 $16,000,000 

Timber 150,000 5,600,000 

Iron Ore 1,600.000 2,400,000 

Lime 450,000 ^6,000 

Coal 300,(!uu 300,000 

Manufactured 

products 1,000,000 "S,00(] y 000 



4,000,000 $52,716,000 

To say nothing of the hundreds of 
minor industries the products of 
which are not included in this com- 
pilation. 

The present production of the 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, igoo. 



235 



Coosa valley, however, is in its in- 
cipiency as compared with the pos- 
sibilites of the proper developments 
of the vast resources of this valley. 
The facts will bear me out in stat- 
ing that there is found in the Coosa 
valley the greatest combination and 
variety of minerals, in the closest 
proximity to each other, nearest the 
seaboard, of any other place in the 
United States, and it is probable 
without a parallel in the world. This 
is a broad statement, but it is true 
while coal and iron are the predom- 
inating minerals found here, the 
rich fields of cotton and other agri- 
cultural products, intermingled with 
virgin forests and beautified with 
towering ranges of granite and cliff 
limestone assaying 98 to 100 per 
cent pure lime, must necessarily soon 
be fully developed, and the natural 
route to market this great mass of 
product, the route designated by na- 
ture is through the Gulf ports. 

Timbered Resources. 

There are 2,835,000 acres of unim- 
proved lands lying in the nine coun- 
ties immediately upon the Coosa 
river in Alabama. 

These lands are clothed with vir- 
gin forests, long leaf yellow pine, in- 
termingled with white, red and 
chestnut oak, hickory and many 
other valuable timbers. These for- 
ests contain not less than 3,000 feet 
of timber per acre, making a grand 
total of 8,505,000,000 feet, or a ton- 
nage of about twenty millions of 
tons, the value of which may be 
placed at $65,000,000. 

Cutting timber from this great for- 
est at the rate of 80,000,000 feet per 
annum, it would take over a hundred 
years to denude tnis forest of its 
virgin timber, and shipping at this 
rate, would give a tonnage of 150,- 
000 tons per annum, from this source 
alone, whose value would be $5,600,- 
000. 

Mineral Resources. 

No adequate conception can be 
formed of the extent and value of 
the iron ore deposits in the Coosa 
valley. The fact that this is the 
southwestern portion of the Appala- 
chian chain, can only account for 
the masses of rich red and brown 
iron ores and the great variety of 
other minerals found in this valley, 



as the richest and largest deposits 
of minerals are generally found in 
the southwestern portion of the for- 
mation in which they exist. 

Gold is found in Coosa county and 
elsewhere, and at one time the gold 
mines of that section attracted a 
large population. 

A pure and very fine grade of kao- 
lin is found in Calhoun and Etowah 
counties. Marble is abundant in 
Talladega, which is noted for its 
purity and beauty. Plumbago exists 
in Chilton, Coosa and adjoining 
counties, and it is claimed that tin 
has been discovered in Clay and 
Coosa counties, but red and brown 
iron ores, coal and iron are the pre- 
dominating minerals found in the 
Coosa valley. 

Iron exists in the greatest quanti- 
ties in all portions of the valley. 
Large iron ore mines are being ex- 
tensively worked at Gadsden, At- 
talla, and Grudup, Alabama, from 
which hundreds of tons of iron ore 
are mined daily. Brown iron ores are 
being very extensively mined in the 
Talladega, Anniston and Piedmont, 
Alabama, and Cave Spring, Georgia, 
regions, and the extent of these de- 
posits is beyond conception. Large 
and inexhaustible deposits of iron 
are found right on the banks of the 
Coosa river, accompanied by coal, 
and lime in great abundance in close 
proximity, which makes the river 
bank a very desirable place for iron 
and steel making. 

The present output of the iron ore 
mines of the Coosa valley will prob- 
ably reach 1,600,000 tons per annum, 
representing a value of $2,400,000. 
And we might safely say that this 
amount of ore could be increased to 
almost any amount that mankind 
might desire. 

Lime. 
The lime interest of the Coosa val- 
ley demands more than a passing 
thought, when we take into consider- 
ation that the lime deposits of this 
valley are probably the richest, and 
most extensive to be found anywhere 
in the United States, and the further 
fact that the greatest market for 
lime is found in the sugar refineries 
in Louisiana and the West Indies, 
and this market begins where the 
water of the Coosa river (the ob- 



236 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



ject of this memorial) empty into 
the Gulf of Mexico. 

These lime deposits are found in 
great cliffs of pure lime stone, as- 
saying 98 and 100 per cent pure lime, 
towering out over the river and val- 
ley hundreds of feet high. They are 
similar to the cliff lime stone re- 
gion of the Ohio valley, except the 
cliff limestone of the Coosa is su- 
perior in quality, in fact the lime of 
the Coosa valley is unequal ed any- 
where in purity. 

The home consumption of this 
lime is quite extensive for building 
and domestic purposes, and ' thou- 
sands of tons of limestone are used 
annually for fluxing the iron fur- 
naces of the district in which lime is 
found. 

This, in connection with the de- 
mand for this lime in other States 
and foreign countries, for building, 
for use in sugar making and for fer- 
tilizing and disinfecting,, make the 
lime interests of the Coosa valley of 
very great importance. 

Prof. McCalley in his estimate of 
the extent of the Coosa coal fields 
reaches the conclusion that with an 
output of ten thousand tons per day 
the coal in this region would last 165 
years. 

As for the quality and character of 
the Coosa coal, we quote from the 
report of Eugene A. Smith, Ph. D., 
Alabama State Geologist; in his re- 
port of the Coosa coal fields, 1895: 

"While different seams of coal 
show special differences in the struc- 
ture and composition, in this, as in 
all other coal fields, yet there are 
general features of similarity that 
distinguish these coals, as a class, 
from other coals. They are highly 
bitumous-iree hurning, yet rich in 
fixed carbon. Soft, easy to mine, 
free from bone or slate structure, and 
also from combined sulphur or py- 
rite — generally called sulphur flakes, 
and often and fervently maledicted 
by the miners in other fields. They 
long sustain combustion, and leave 
but little ash or cinder, and no 
clinker, and are well adapted for 
raising steam, for forge work, and 
for all other purposes of fuel. 

"The most important characteristic 
of these coals is in their superior 
coking qualities. They will rank 
among the first class of coking coals. 



This is not a very extensive class, 
though coke can be made from most 
of the coals in the Appalachian 
fields, which is distinguished as a 
field of coking coal, and which pro- 
duces over 95 per cent of all the 
coke made in the United States; yet 
all this coke that is of commercial 
value is made from very few seams, 
lying generally near the eastern 
limits of the fields. For it is a recog- 
nized fact, and so stated by the high- 
est authorities, that the coal in the 
middle or western part of the field, 
is as a rule not so well adapted to 
coking as that in the eastern. This 
is the case all through Pennsylvania 
and "West Virginia, and doubtless in 
other parts of the field also. Hence, 
the good coking qualities of the 
Coosa coals lying as they do on the 
very eastern limits of the field, would 
be inferred from their position had 
they never been tested. But ample 
tests have been made to demonstrate 
the fact that these coals are among 
the best of our coking coals. 

"It was at the Inman mines, in 
the Fairview district, that coke was 
successfully made in commercial 
quantities on open grounds without 
ovens — a fact so often referred to in 
statistics of the coking industry. 
The process was to pile the coal 
around small cones, built about two 
feet high of loose rocks, and fire 
from the center. These cones with 
the rocks all vitrified, and welded 
together yet stand as monuments 
of this unique though successful pro- 
cess. 

"The excellence of the Coosa coal 
and coke has been shown in this re- 
port, and it is hoped that their pro- 
duction may be very greatly in- 
creased in the future; the commer- 
cial interests of the State, and the 
metallurgical prosperity of the ad- 
jacent valleys demand that vigorous 
and persistent efforts be made to 
promote this result." 

The Coosa river is the natural 
route for transporting this coal, iron, 
and lime, the route designated by 
nature, and now that there is almost 
a coal famine in Europe, and it is 
becoming apparent that the United 
States must soon to a large extent 
supply the world with coal, the open- 
ing of the Coosa river is a project 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7 1900. 



23' 



of international as well as national 
importance. 

With the building of a trans-isth- 
mian canal, with our numerous 
naval coaling stations along the 
Gulf coast, and on the outlying is- 
lands of the Gulf and Carribean Sea, 
the item of good, cheap coal, easy of 
access, and capable of being trans- 
ported quickly ,and in large quanti- 
ties, becomes of vital importance. 
The following extract from the Cin- 
cinnati Commercial shows the super- 
iority of river transportation, both 
in cost and time, for such freights 
as coal. 

"The tow-boat Jos. B. Wlliams is 
on her way to New Orleans with a 
tow of thirty-two barges, contain- 
ing 600,000 bushels (seventy-six 
pounds to the bushel) of coal ex- 
clusive of her own fuel, being the 
largest tow ever taken to New Or- 
leans, or anywhere else in the world. 
Her freight bill, at three cents a 
bushel, amounts to $18,000.00. It 
would take 1800 cars, of 333 bushels 
to the car, to transport this amount 
of coal. The tow will be taken from 
Pittsburg to New Orleans in 14 or 
15 days. It would take 100 trains of 
eighteen cars to the train to trans- 
port this one tow of 600,000 bushels 
of coal, and even if it made the usual 
speed of fast freight lines, it would 
take one whole summer to put it 
through by rail." 

This extract is a statement of ac- 
tual facts and not an estimate of 
what may be accomplished. 

Now, an examination of a map of 
the United States will show the great 
saving in distance by river from the 
coal fields of the Coosa to the Gulf 
over that from the coal fields of the 
Ohio. 

We have not given these distances 
in miles for the reason that the 
graphic representation on the maps 
gives a clearer idea of the great ad- 
vantage of the Coosa river in the 
matter of the saving of distance than 
any mere figures can give. 

Notwithstanding the limited and 
almost inaccessibility of a large por- 
tion of the Coosa coal fields to trans- 
portation, the output of coal from 
this field is now 200,000 tons per an- 
num. 



Manufactories. 
The Coosa valley is fast becoming 
a manufacturing center, almost every 
class of manufacturing is represented 
here. Cotton factories, iron furnaces, 
car and car wheel works, rolling 
mills, pipe works and lumber mills, 
are the principal industries found in 
the valley, though there are a large 
variety of other classes of manu- 
facturing carried on. The products 
of these factories find a market in 
all parts of the world. The export 
trade of the valley is quite extensive 
and increasing annually. The open- 
ing of the Coosa river to through 
navigation would give a water route 
of transportation from the very doors 
of a great many of these factories 
to all the great markets, and would 
stimulate the building of more fac- 
tories and the exportation of their 
products, until the Coosa valley 
would soon be second to none as a 
manufacturing center. The Massa- 
chusetts cotton mill, at Rome, Geor- 
gia, exports a large portion of their 
products, and the entire product of 
the big Dwight cotton mill at Gads- 
den, Alabama, is exported, which 
alone amounts to over $2,000,000 per 
annum. The Central Foundry Co., 
of Gadsden, and the Anniston, Ala- 
bama, export large quantities of 
cast iron pipe and are now filling a 
large order for Switzerland. The 
exportation of iron, lumber, and 
many other products of the factory 
is quite extensive. 

The annual iron production of the 
Coosa valley, though in its incipien- 
cy as compared with the rich de- 
posits of raw material for iron mak- 
ing found here, is as follows: 

Furnaces. Tons. 

Rome. Ga 1 36,000 

Round Mountain, Ala.l 1S,000 

Gadsden, Ala 2 140,000 

Attalla, Ala 1 20,000 

Anniston, Ala 2 ] 50,000 

Talladega, Ala 1 75,000 

1 ronton, Ala 2 145,000 

Jenifer, Ala 1 50,000 

Shelby, Ala 1 36,000 

Totals 12 670,000 

The value of which is about $10,- 
000,00 per annum. 



238 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention. 



Cotton Factories. 

Rome, Ga., cotton goods 

Gadsden, Ala., cotton goods... 

Anniston, Ala., cotton goods 

and yarns 

Other yarn mills in the valley. 



Tons. 
8,000 
6,000 

5,000 
2,000 



Total .21,000 

Which approximates in value $8,- 
500,000. 

Car and Car Wheel Works. 
Gadsden and Anniston, Alabama. 

Cast iron pipe, 100,000 tons, valued 
at $4,000,000. 

Carpet and Cordage Mills. 
Anniston, Ala., 525 tons, valued at 
$250,000. 

There are hundreds of other man- 
ufactures of which we have no way 
of arriving at a correct valuation and 
extent of their annual products, 
hence they are also left out of this 
compilation. 

The annual tonnage and value of 
the products of the factories as above 
shown, is 961,525 tons, valued at $28,- 
050,000. 

Recapitulation of the Foregoing An- 
nual Resources of the Coosa 
Valley. 

Tons. Valued at. 
Agriculture .. .. 502,000 $16,000,000 

Timber 150,000 5,600,000 

Iron Ore 1,600.000 2,400,000 

Lime 448,000 416,000 

Coal 200,000 300,000 

Manufactory. . . 961,525 28,050,000 

Total 3,861,525 $52,766,000 

In return for this vast amount of 
resources, in the ordinary exchange 
of commerce we must naturally have 
almost a like amount in value re- 
turned to the Coosa valley, though 
the articles so returned being in a 
more refined state, the tonnage on 
the in-coming goods would probably 
be about half that of the out-going. 

This would give us to be handled 
in the Coosa valley annually 5,792,- 
287 tons of freight, valued at $105,- 
732,000. 

By the opening of the Coosa river 



to through navigation to the Gulf 
of Mexico, twenty per cent of this 
great mass of commerce would be 
transferred to the Coosa river, which 
would make 1,158,457 tons of freight, 
valued at $21,126,000 to be handled 
annually on the Coosa river. Then, 
in addition to this, it is safe to say 
that by the opening of the river new 
enterprises would spring into exis- 
tence and a vast amount of new 
traffic would open up in iron ore, 
coal, lime and lumber from the rich 
districts lying idle in the valley, 
thereby more than doubling the river 
tonnage. 

Taking into consideration all these 
facts, it is safe to say that with the 
Coosa river open to through navi- 
gation, the commerce to be handled 
on the bosom of this great water way 
would approximate two and a half 
millions of tons per annum, which 
would give 6,850 tons daily. This 
would require 23 steamers per day, 
of three hundred tons burden each, 
to handle this great mass of freight. 

Water Powers. 

There are many valuable water 
powers on the numerous tributaries 
of the Coosa river and many more 
could be established on these smaller 
streams; then in addition to this, 
the locks and dams that will be con- 
structed in the work of opening the 
Coosa river to through navigation 
will develop immense water powers 
all along that portion of the river 
upon which such locks and dams are 
built. 

The fall from Greensport, Ala- 
bama, to Wetumpka, Alabama, that 
portion of the river in which the 
rapids occur, a distance of 142 miles, 
is 367 feet. The total number of 
horse powers that can be developed 
from the fall and water discharge 
on this part of the river is 382,882 
horse power. By the opening of the 
river to through navigation would 
give river transportation from these 
great water powers to all parts of the 
world, and stimulate the develop- 
ment of these powers and their util- 
ization for operating factories of all 
kinds until the Coosa river would 
soon be almost lined with factories 
from its source to its mouth. Con- 
gress should enact authority to util- 
ize the water powers developed by 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



239 



the locks and dams constructed in 
the progress of opening the river. 
Such untilization to be accomplished 
in such a way as not to interfere 
with navigation. 

National Importance. 

The Coosa river, reaching like a 
bandeau across the State of Ala- 
bama, from Rome, Georgia, to Mo- 
bile, crosses every, line of railway 
that extends from the Alabama cot- 
ton, coal and iron fields, and the 
great pine forests, to the Gulf and 
South Atlantic. 

The cost of these elements of in- 
dustry, commerce and civilization is 
a fact that interests the people of 
every section of the United States. 

The cheapening of the cost of 
transportation on these necessities 
is a duty of the Government when 
it holds the paramount control of 
such a channel of navigation. 

The Coosa river- has claims to na- 
tional care and consideration that 
are not possessed by any water 
course in the United States, of simi- 
lar length, not yet open to steam nav- 
igation. On the banks of this river 
great geological systems are in con- 
tact with each other, the river drain- 
ing each of them. Such a condition 
is not presented elsewhere in the 
United States, if it is found in any 
other country. 

These systems, bearing the rich 
material of their full development, 
each contribute to industry and com- 
merce the indispensable element of 
progress in agriculture and the arts 
that are in universal use. Among 
these are coal, iron, lime, marble, 
granite, the slates, kaolin, mica, as- 
bestos, and many cognate minerals, 
with soils, clays, sandstone and 
other useful materials of great va- 
riety. 

Such geological areas are found 
elsewhere in the United States in 
perfection, and each of them is in- 
dispensable in the grand aggregate 
of our material resources, but they, 
are widely separated in other locali- 
ties, and their transportation from 
one field to the other is so expen- 
sive that their value is much dimin- 
ished. 

Along the banks of the Coosa river 
these several formations meet, and 
that river is a natural conduit of 



their interchange. The forests, and 
the productions of these several sys- 
tems, are indigenous to such forma- 
tions, and are very rich and varied. 

The use of the Coosa river as the 
commercial outlet to the ocean for 
this immense field of industry, in 
agriculture, forests, quarries and 
mines, is a great national duty that 
is devolved on Congress. 

Able engineers estimate that $6,- 
000,000 will give four (4) feet slack- 
water navigation from Lock Four to 
Wetumpka, Alabama, which is the 
portion of the river now closed to 
navigation. This money can be 
more econonomically spent in six 
years than it can be in twelve, and 
more economically spent in twelve 
than in twenty-four. Therefore, let 
us recommend and ask: That Con- 
gress place the work of opening the 
Coosa river to through navigation 
on the Continuous Contract Plan, 
and appropriate six million dollars, 
to be spent in six years in the open- 
ing of this important stream, ihe 
work to be done according to the 
plans and specifications furnished 
previously by the engineers in 
charge, and that the work be com- 
menced at Lock Four, and continue 
down the river from there, and at 
Wetumpka and work up the river 
from that point, and continue in this 
form until completed. 

Extract from a paper read by Maj. 
C. F. A. Flagler, U. S. A., before 
the annual meeting of the Alabama 
Commercial and Industrial Associa- 
tion at New Decatur, April 18-19, 
1900: 

"The Coosa river, formed at Rome, 
Ga., by the junction of the Oostanau- 
la and Etowah rivers, is about three 
hundred miles long; it unites with 
the Tallapoosa near "Wetumpka to 
form the Alabama. It is now navi- 
gable at all seasons from Rome 
throughout two-thirds of its length, 
but the lower third is a succession 
of shoals and rapids that can only 
be passed by means of locks. Thirty- 
one locks are neede'd on this river to 
make through navigation possible, 
and of these, four have been con- 
structed and three are in operation. 
The estimated cost of this work was 
$6,000,000, and $1,300,000 of this 
amount has been expended. The 
commerce of that part of the river 



240 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



now navigable between Rome and 
Lincoln is $2,000,000 per annum, 
even without a water outlet; its trib- 
utaries drain the gold ocber and 
marble fields of Georgia. In north- 
ern Alabama, it flows through moun- 
tains of iron ore (both maemetite 
and limonite), vast beds of slate and 
coal, and all these covered by dense 
forests of long leaf pine. The com- 
merce to and from cities in the val- 
ley of the Coosa exceeds $20,000,000 
annually, and fully one-quarter of 
this will find its way to Mobile and 
the commercial world by water route, 
when the lower Coosa shall be 
opened. No appropriation has been 
made for the locks on this river 
since 1896, and this magnificent 
waterway, after the expenditure of. 
over a million dollars, appears to be 
abandoned by Congress. On all 
other parts of the State where rivers 
merit improvement, appropriations 
are made with lavish hand. Why is 
the Coosa, the key to nature's rich- 
est valley in the State of Alabama, 
forgotten?" 

I am pleased to submit the follow- 
ing extracts from a speech of U. S. 
Senator John T. Morgan of Alabama, 
before the Coosa River Improvement 
Association at Gadsden, Ala., Sept. 
27, 1899: 

"The question we are trying to 
solve is not new, but the rapid de- 
velopment of these resources gives 
it a new and increasing interest, as 
each year discloses new and impor- 
tant features of its commercial im- 
portance. Alabama began at an 
early day to consider the subject of 
opening the Coosa river to steam 
navigation, and the Government of 
the United States, for more than 
forty years, has contributed to this 
important work. That more rapid 
progress has not been made is due 
to the necessary diversion of the ef- 
forts of Congress towards other river 
and harbor improvements, for which 
there was a more immediate de- 
mand. 

"The time has thus arrived when 
it is useful and necessary to open 
up the navigation of rivers that form 
the great body of waters that flow 
into the Bay of Mobile. The War- 
rior and Coosa rivers are the water- 
ways to the Gulf, through which will 
be transported iron, coal, timber and 



stone, which are of incalculable 
value, for ages to come. As this 
vast wealth is developed by coming 
generations, the necessity for these 
channels of commerce will become 
more pressing, so that the work we 
are trying to promote will be here- 
after classed among the most impor- 
tant that the people of any State of 
our Union have ever engaged in. 
When an outlet to the Alabama river 
has been opened into the Pacific 
Ocean, through the Isthmus of Da- 
rien, we will have accomplished the 
true and necessary movement that 
above all is needed to make the coun- 
try through which the Coosa river 
flows as desirable as any region of 
the earth. Its beauty is simply inde- 
scribable in any phases that I could 
employ. Its fertile fields and its 
magnificent forests, its many water 
springs, and its swift flowing 
streams, its vast mines of coal and 
iron, and its quarries of granite, 
limestone, sandstone, slate and mar- 
ble, enrich this region with an avail- 
able wealth of natural resources that 
is without a rival in any other coun- 
try." 

But the real value of this extra- 
ordinary region lies in the fact that 
five different geological systems meet 
at this common center. Commerce 
consists most largely in the inter- 
change of commodities that are pe- 
culiar to these separate systems the 
world over, and the saving of the 
cost of such interchange is the chief 
value of this region in the commer- 
cial sense. The Coosa river, opened 
to navigation, will not only cheapen 
the cost of this local interchange, 
but it will carry out to the sea an 
unlimited supply of the productions 
of these five systems, on a single line 
of transportation, while in the great 
majority of cases, they are only to 
be assembled on different lines that 
reach the seaboard, often far sepa- 
rated. In no other country, and 
scarcely at any other place, is it pos- 
sible to ship on the same vessels, 
from the same contiguous region of 
origin, a cargo composed of iron, 
steel, coal, granite, lime and lime- 
stone, marble, timber of pine, cedar, 
oak, walnut, poplar, cherry, ash, and 
other valuable woods, cotton, corn, 
wheat, oats, potatoes, onions, peas 
and other exportable field crops, and 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 



241 



fruits, cattle, hogs, mules and 
horses. Such a diversified and abun- 
dant commerce in stable commodities 
cannot be found in an equal area 
in any country on the globe as can 
be gathered from the twenty thous- 
and square miles drained by the Coo- 
sa river and its tributaries. 

Our system of railroads are so lo- 
cated, that all the trunk lines are 
either crossed, or touched by the 
Coosa river. It is /competitive with 
all of them. The trend of the river, 
from the northeastern to the south- 
western corners of the State, cre- 
ates this competitive highway for the 
free use of the people, and makes it 
impossible that a trust or combina- 
tion between any two or more of 
the great trunk lines of railways can 
corral the commerce of the State and 
levy upon it discretionary rates of 
toll for freights. 

No other State has a waterway 
through its entire length that so 
completely negatives the power of 
railroad combinations to control the 
freight charges on Its commerce. The 
time has arrived when the demand 
for large appropriations for the Bay 
of Mobile and for the Tennessee and 
Ohio livers will no longer divide the 
attention of our delegation in Con- 
gress; those improvements being 
isearly completed are provided for, 
and we will be, happily, aided by 
the delegations from Georgia and 
Louisiana in getting appropriations 
for the Coosa river. 

Other advantages are of conspic- 
uous importance to the eastern parts 
of Alabama, in the opening of this 
river to navigation. In part, they 
include the effective development of 
a vast water-power of many locali- 
ties, for manufacturing purposes and 
in the distribution of that power, by 
electric wires, into the homes of 
skilled workmen, to be employed in 
special industries. 

Without reciting the details of a 
careful survey and estimates that 
have been ably conducted, we have 
before us a task that will cost us 
$6,000,000 to complete, so as to give 
four feet of water at the shoal places, 
in the river and to remove obstruc- 
tions from its channel. This sum 
could be expended more economically 
within six years, tlian if ten years 
were consumed in unnecessary de- 



lays. I therefore propose, as the ba- 
sis of our efforts, that we will ask 
Congress for an appropriation of $6,- 
000,000, to be expanded within six 
years, to open the navigation of the 
Coosa river. 

No argument is now needed to 
commend this work to the considera- 
tion of Congress as a proper work 
of river improvement. For more 
than forty years Congress has con- 
ceded its importance, and has 
adopted it as a national enterprise. 
The question now is, whether we 
shall continue a wasteful policy of 
making inadequate appropriations, 
or take up the improvement of the 
river in earnest and supply the work 
with adequate appropriations. 

But Congress has dealt with this 
great work with a spirit of determi- 
nation to accomplish it, and now, 
that wider commercial fields are 
opening up to our people in islands^ 
of the Carribean sea and the Pa- 
cific Ocean, the national duty is made 
plain to the Government of the 
United States, to connect this region 
of abounding wealth with the sea- 
board by a great waterway. 

I can scarcely refrain from ex- 
pressing my conceptions of the 
splendid progress that will attend 
the labors of the strong, courageous 
and enlightened people who possess 
this favored region of Alabama and 
Georgia, when the Coosa river is 
fully opened to navigation. Already 
these valleys and hills afford every 
advantage and charm that nature 
could provide, in climate, soil, for- 
est and stream for the development 
of a great race of people into the 
highest civilization. When they are 
provided with proper access to the 
seaboard, they will bring with them 
sheaves of p bun dan t riches to the 
State, and valuable contribution to 
the commerce of the world. 

After careful reflection, I am con- 
vinced that, in variety, excellence 
and abundance of natural resources, 
and in their relations to each other 
and to the facilities and costs of 
transportations, Alabama has within 
her 52,000 square miles more wealth 
in the commodities that enter into 
commerce than is found in any like 
area on the globe. I will ask your 
attention, however, only to the fea- 
ture of transportation for moving 



242 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



this material to market, as that is 
the special matter we have met here 
to consider. 

In every part of Alabama, the in- 
dustrial classes are in easy reach of 
•water transportation to the Gulf of 
Mexico, when our rivers are open to 
Bteam navigation. These waterways 
and the railways follow the same 
valley to the Gulf of Mexico, and are 
everywhere competing lines of trans- 
portation. The Mobile and Ohio R. 
R. is in competition with the Tom- 
bigbee river. The Louisville & 
Nashville Railroad is in competition 
with the Warrior, the Cahaba, the 
Coosa and the Alabama rivers. The 
Southern Railway is in competition 
with the Coosa and its tributaries, 
and with the Alabama river. The 
Plant System and the Central of 
Georgia are in competition with the 
Alabama and Chattahoochee, and 
•with several navigable streams that 
lie between them. The Memphis & 
Charleston R. R. and the Alabama 
-Crreat Southern are in competition 
with the Tennessee and the Coosa 
r rivers. 

This situation demonstrates the 
necessity for energetic and persistent 
effort to open all these waterways 
to steam navigation, so that our vast 
production shall have the double ad- 
vantage of rail and water transpor- 
tation to the seaboard. "When this 
remarkable combination of facilities 
lor transportation is completed, no 
equal area in the world can supply 
to other countries the leading staples 
of commerce so abundantly and at 
such low cost for transportation as 
Alabama will afford. 

The Tennessee and Mississippi 
rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, and the 
South Atlantic, almost insulate the 
great coal and iron districts of Ala- 
bama, which rise from the center of 
this belt of great rivers and oceans 
to a height which give a down grade 
to reach water transportation in all 
directions, but is not great enough to 
obstruct railroad lines at any point 
from the center to the circumfer- 
ence of the Coosa and Warrior coal 
and iron fields. 

It is no longer a question that 
this great area is a mighty factor 
with the future problems of the 
world's progress and civilization, and 
that a duty rests on this generation 



to develope this wealth in the early 
years of the twentieth century. 

The cost of the work we are try- 
ing to promote is really insignifi- 
cant, as compared with the contribu- 
tion of wealth and power it will 
bring to our country in the near fu- 
ture and for all time to come. 

When the Coosa river improve- 
ments shall have been completed, it 
will open up an all-water route to 
the Mississippi river via Mobile, Mo- 
bile Bay, Mississippi Sound, and 
through the Lake Borgne Canal, a 
distance of less than 1000 miles by 
water from Rome, Ga., to New Or- 
leans, La. The effect of this all- 
water route will be to develope im- 
mensely the country along the Coo- 
sa river; manufacturing towns will 
spring up; the innumerable water 
powers supplied by the Coosa will 
enable electrical power to be cheaply 
employed for all purposes, to which 
electricity is applicable. The power 
developed by this utilization of 
water, will be a great saver of coal, 
thus permitting coal which would be 
consumed for power, -to be turned 
into a commercial factor for these 
towns, which, being situated along 
the Coosa river, are more or less re- 
mote from railroads, will be necessi- 
tated to build railroad connections. 
This will promote great activity in 
railroad building, and this railroad 
building will necessitate the use of 
steel rails, locomotives, cars and 
other appliances of railroading made 
or to be made South. When these 
towns are built along the Coosa 
river, they will furnish a consump- 
tion of imports, brought to New Or- 
leans and Mobile in steamers com- 
ing for cargoes of coal, pig iron, 
steel, staves, lumber, phosphates, and 
other freight from Southern mines, 
forests, fields, mills, factories. 
Tramp' steamers being assured that 
they can always get a full -cargo, for 
export, will bring many imported 
articles, which are now imported 
through New York, Philadelphia and 
Baltimore. It will be very difficult for 
anyone to forecast the exports from 
the Coosa Valley which will leave 
the ports of New Orleans and mo- 
bile. Lime for building purposes, 
and for use on Louisiana and Texas 
sugar plantations, for liming cane 
juice, and for fertilizing sugar lands; 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, ipoo. 



243 



granite for building purposes, and 
most beautiful marbles abounding 
along tbe Coosa river, will be 
brought here for the many purposes 
and demands. Structural steel to be 
used in towns and cities of the pres- 
ent and of the future; cotton goods, 
manufactured in these river towns; 
flour manufactured from wheat 
raised in the surrounding country; 
corn and corn products for foreign 
and domestic consumption; (meal 
from Southern grown Indian corn 
makes much sweeter bread than the 
"Western corn, and will in time meas- 
urably supplant it), together with 
many other products one cannot now 
anticipate, will come down this ca- 
nal, and through this all-water-way 
route into the Mississippi river at 
New Orleans, to find cheap transpor- 
tation to the world. Most especially 
will manufactured cotton goods of 
these future towns on the Coosa 
river find a demand in all the coun- 
try south of us, including the west 
coast of South America and the Ori- 
ent. It needs no argument to con- 
vince anyone that goods manufac- 
tured by mills driven by water power 
(or by electricity furnished from 
water electric power plants), from 
material secured close-by, with native 
labor, climatic advantages, and all- 
water transportation will successfully 
rival competition. Goods manufac- 
tured from cotton raised on the 
scene; cheap electrical power; abun- 
dant native labor; climatic advan- 
tages, and all-water transportation 
to the markets of the world must and 
will successfully compete. The 
South, some day, will be the situs 
of a great sheep raising industry. 
The best of wool can be secured from 
the Coosa Valley sheep; raised on 
the cheapest land. Here sheep are 
the most healthy, and the finest wool 
can be raised along this river. Here 
will be a great center for manufac- 
turing the finest woolen fabrics, com- 
peting with the best that are now 
imported from England, Scotland 
and Europe. The mutton from these 
sheep will furnish the most healthy 
meat, and thus a great factor of 
sustenance will be added to the 
South. 

There will probably be a new era 
of elegant architecture in these 
towns along the river, and at Mobile 



and New Orleans, on account of the 
low price at which building stone 
can be had, such as we cannot an- 
ticipate. Many of these towns along 
the river will be right on the scenes 
of inexhaustible deposits of granite 
and marble, and this will furnish 
such cheap materials for buildings as 
will cause many to substitute stone 
for brick and wood. New Orleans, 
also, with her advancement in wealth 
and taste, will undoubtedly use 
largely these most exquisite marbles 
and granite; and it might be truth- 
fully predicted of this canal that it 
will find New Orleans built of brick, 
and convert its buildings into mar- 
ble, as Augusta did Rome. The mar- 
bles which will be accessible chiefly 
to New Orleans are various and 
beautiful. It is impossible to be- 
lieve that an era in aesthetic struc- 
tures does not impend with the com- 
ing of this canal. These towns on 
the Coosa river, which v;:ll be the 
outcome of the canal, will be strong 
in industries founded on iron. In 
the next quarter of a century there 
will be found iron furnaces, steel 
furnaces, and rolling mills, steel rail 
mills, locomotive and steel car build- 
ing plants, cotton weaving machin- 
ery, factories, and cognate industries. 
Nowhere can you assemble for a con- 
siderable distance, iron, coal and 
limestone more cheaply; they being 
in close proximity; assembled by 
water in abundance with elevation or 
fall sufficient to drive turbine wheels, 
and when made, the manufactured 
article deliverable by water. An- 
other thing, that country has not 
been one-hundredth part prospected, 
and neither speculation nor develop- 
ment have yet enhanced their value; 
thus affording to all a broad basis for 
competition. 

There is no doubt of ample water 
and no need of reservoirs; the es- 
tuaries of the Coosa river, with 
large and frequent rainfalls, furnish 
water in abundance for water power, 
for electric power, and light, for 
steam power, for domestic purposes 
and for water transportation. 

Secretary N. F. Thompson then 
read the following resolution rela- 
tive to the Coosa river and Warrior 
canal: 

"Whereas, the opening up of the 



241 



Minutes of The Southern Industrial Convention, 



mineral fields of Alabama to water 
transportation would offer the Gulf 
States unrivalled opportunities to 
obtain cheaper coal, iron, steel and 
other products with which tnat re- 
gion abounds, such as would enable 
these cities to become manufactur- 
ing centers as great as their com- 
mercial advantages will be on the 
building of the Nicaraguan Canal; 
therefore, be it 

"Resolved, That this Convention 
hereby endorses the opening of the 
Coosa river and the erection of the 
Warrior Canal, and the officers of the 
Southern Industrial Association are 
instructed to render these enterprises 
such assistance as may tend to facili- 
tate their early completion." 

The resolution was adopted. 

Secretary N. F. Thompson: I have 
just received the following reply to 
the telegram which was sent this 
morning to the New York World: 

"Dec. 7, 1900. 
"N. F. Thompson, Industrial Con- 
vention, New Orleans: 



"Great crush of news reason for 
crowding out notice. 

"THE WORLD." 
Mr. Thompson also said that a3 
some comment had been made in re- 
gard to the absence of President 
Stuyvesant Fish of the Illinois Cen- 
tral R. R., that the following letter 
which he had received from that gen- 
tleman was sufficient to show that 
while Mr. Fish could not be present, 
yet he was in entire sympathy with 
the objects which the Southern In- 
dustrial Convention was endeavoring, 
to promote: 

"Illinois Central Railroad, 214 Broad- 
way. 
■ "New York, Dec. 4, 1900. 
"N. F. Thompson, Secretary South- 
ern Industrial Convention, New 
Orleans, La.: 
"My Dear Sir: It is with pro- 
found regret that I find myself una- 
ble to attend the Industrial Conven- 
tion. I had hoped to be able to go 
to New Orleans at this time, but am 
unavoidably detained here. 
"Believe me, very sincerely yours* 
"STUYVESANT FISH. 



WHO KTJLES THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 

BY TETSUTARO INUMARU. 



Acting Chairman Story then intro- 
duced Mr. Tetsutaro Inumaru, a Ja- 
panese gentleman, as the next speak- 
er. 

Mr. Tetsutaro Inumaru is the Rep- 
resentative of Agriculture and Com- 
merce of the Imperial Cabinet of Ja- 
pan. Mr. Inumaru's address was as 
follows: 

"Mr. President and Delegates of 
the Southern Industrial Convention: 
I wish to offer my congratulations to 
you for the honor in allowing me to 
speak to-night. I am not at all pre- 
pared to do so, but, nevertheless, I 
will endeavor to speak upon the sub- 
ject, 'Who Rules the Chinese Em- 
pire?' 

"The reason I choose this subject 
is because it will be more interesting 
to the Southerner than if I spoke 
upon my home, Japan. 

"The important points of triumph 
of war consist in knowing of the 
power of the enemy, and the condi- 



tions of the customers snould be 
known in the necessity of the busi- 
ness. 

"I believe the boundless market of 
the world is the Chinese Empire, and 
the Southern portion of the United 
States has many more opportunities 
than the European countries to sup- 
ply their demands, especially auer 
the success of the Nicaragua Canal. 
Indeed, the general current of tne 
trade in the twentieth century is 
running already forward to the Pa- 
cific Ocean, leaving the Atlantic. 

"I have several ideas in regard to 
Chinese trade with the United States, 
but owing to so little time, I cannot 
speak upon them, so I will suggest 
one thing, that is, who rules the 
Chinese Empire? 

"Who do you think rules the Em- 
pire? Then you will ask me, does 
the Chinese Emperor rule? 

"Yes, he does, but I would state 
that that is the idea of outsiders. 

"Then you will ask me, does Budd- 
hism rule China? 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, 1900. 



245 



"Yes, it is the national religion of 
China, but in reply I will say, 'no.' 

"Then who rules the Chinese Em- 
pire, which includes a population of 
400,000,000? 

"This is quite a difficult question 
to one who does not fully understand 
the customs of China. I do not be- 
lieve many Chinese themselves un- 
derstand it. Let me explain this. 
This is the most important thing to 
know in Chinese trade. One cannot 
succeed unless he understands this 
point: 

"This is the Confucian. The Con- 
fucian is the principle of the moral 
doctrine which existed 4000 years 
ago; this doctrine controlled so many 
million people of all classes of China 
during 4000 years that it is deeply 
impressed upon their brain until 
now. 

"If you read the history of China, 
you will find many dynasties, dif- 
ferent from that of Japan, which con- 
tinues one blood line of the Emper- 
or's house during 2500 years. 

"The doctrine of Confucius ex- 
plained the definition of the Emper- 
or. It says: 'Any one who practices 
the benevolent administration is to 
be Emperor.' So, in China, the hero 
claims and fights for this stand 
against dynasty, when that dynasty 
loses the popularity of the nation, 
and the nation follows a new dynas- 
ty, as the forefather of the present 
Emperor house of China got his posi- 
tion 100 years ago, arising from Man- 
churia, and the present dynasty sunk 
nearly to the depths of critical revo- 
lution. 

"This will show you that the Chi- 
nese nation simply follows the doc- 
trine of Confucius in the carelessness 
of the house of the Emperor. There- 
fore, Chinese follow any people who 
sympathize in the Confucian doc- 
trine in every direction — that is, 
trade, politics, etc. 

"Here is one of the typical facts: 

"The Murai Bros.' Company, which 
is the largest cigarette factory in Ja- 
pan (now this company is allied with 
the American Tobacco Company for 



the Oriental trade), exported good 
cigarettes at reasonable prices to 
China, eight years ago, but the Chi- 
nese did not wish to receive their 
goods. 

"Why is it? After considering the 
matter, the Murai Company finally 
found the reason for their not ac- 
cepting the goods. 

"On the outside of the cigarette 
boxes the Chinese letters were 
printed, speaking in praises of their 
goods, etc. 

"The Chinese are very careful, sav- 
ing any box or paper which happens 
to have any writing in the form of 
an advertisement, etc., upon it. 

"By this reason all Chinese letters 
are the precious gifts of Confucius, 
and they will be punished in the fu- 
ture if they throw or break any 
writing, and they save even a piece 
of writing paper to burn in a small 
building built for this purpose, of 
which there are two or three of these 
in each village of the interior. 

"Since the company found out the 
reason, it discontinued using the Chi- 
nese letters, and the company is get- 
ting great demands from the Empire. 

"As this experience shows, I am 
convinced and believe that every 
standard of Chinese customs, senti- 
ments, etc., come from the doctrine 
of Confucius. 

"The origin of the great trouble 
which happened in China last sum- 
mer also seems to me to aave come 
from the collision of the Christians 
and Confucians, because the mission- 
aries in China force them too hastily 
to submit to Christianity without un- 
derstanding this point. 

"Therefore, I suggest that the best 
and wisest policies to carry on busi- 
ness - successfully with the Chinese 
depends upon utilizing the doctrine 
of the Confucians, which rules, heart- 
ily and constantly, the population of 
400,000,000 of the Chinese Empire, 
which is the boundless market of the 
Southern portion of the United 
States." 

A vote of thanks was offered Mr. 
Inumaru for his able address. 



246 



Minutes of The Southern industrial Convention, 



ADDRESS BY DE. TICHENOR. 



Dr. G. H. Tichenor (of New Or- 
leans), then delivered the following 
extemporaneous address: 

"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of 
the Convention: It would be impos- 
sible for me to tell the delegates 
from New Orleans or my friends of 
this city anything new, for they have 
heard me so often and of my feeble 
efforts towards the cause of educa- 
tion, if you will pardon this allusion, 
that it is not necessary for me to 
speak to them at any length. How- 
ever, as I have been privileged to 
speak to you all on this occasion, I 
would just like to remind some of 
my old Confederate friends, the old 
'Johnnies' (laughter), that directly 
after the war of the States our con- 
gressmen got together and began to 
discuss the question of specie pay- 
ment. While looking around, they 
saw a friend, a Confederate, whom 
they called 'Johnny Reb!' One of 
them said, perhaps 'Johnny Reb.' can 
tell us something that will help 
solve this question, so they hailed 
him. When he came up, he was in- 
formed that the subject they were 
discussing was how to resume specie 
payment, and asked him whether he 
could help them to solve this ques- 
tion. The old Confederate imme- 
diately answered, 'The way to re- 
sume — is to resume,' and I say to 
you, my friends, that the way to se- 
cure a deep channel for commerce 
is to dig one. 

"Now, gentlemen, we have heard 
a great many lectures in this Conven- 
tion on the subject of waterways and 
canals, but I have not heard one 
word with reference to a canal which 
concerns more than any other the 
City of New Orleans. I want to say 
to you, gentlemen, here to-night and 
to say what you cannot dispute. I 
will say what you all know to be so, 
that as long as the Mississippi rimr 
flows into the Gulf of Mexico, so 
long will sediment be deposited at 
the mouth of this mighty river, and 
therefore we must continue to knock 
at the door of Congress for appropri- 
ations to enable us to improve the 
river and remove this sediment 
which is continually being deposited. 
Congress gave some liberal appro- 
priations which we should be thank- 



ful for, but are we doing the proper 
tbing, are we recommending the 
proper thing to be done, are we go- 
ing economically about it, are we 
doing ourselves justice, doing the 
Government justice? Why have we 
not settled this question and settled 
it forever? Why? It is within our 
power to settle this question in such 
a way that we can publish to the 
world that we have solved this great 
problem once and for all time, and 
we will have a channel capable of ad- 
mitting the largest vessels afloat un- 
til such time as Gabriel blows his 
trumpet. (Laughter and applause.) 

"Few of you know that I have been 
advocating the construction of a ca- 
nal in the City of New Orleans, per- 
haps in the vicinity of Audubon Park 
direct to the Gulf, and if that scheme 
is consummated it will solve this 
question forever. It can be made 
forty feet deep and 1000 feet wide. 
We can have stationary machinery^ 
belt railroads, warehouses and wharf- 
age sufficient to unload the biggest 
steamers afloat. This canal would 
start in the vicinity opposite Audu- 
bon Park and would run almost in 
a direct line to Fort Livingston, or, 
by making the canal a little longer, 
we could utilize the bayous that are 
already almost deep enough for the 
largest ship that floats the ocean. 
These bayous can be used by deep- 
ening wherever required; in other 
words, there is almost a waterway 
already to Fort Livingston. This 
great commercial canal is not an out- 
let for the Mississippi river, for if 
the flood waters were permitted to 
flow through this canal, there would 
be a deposit at the gulf end just the 
same as we now find at the mouth 
of the Mississippi river; hence, locks 
would be placed on the banks of the 
Mississippi river, to prevent it be- 
ing used as an outlet and thus avoid 
the accumulation of sediment. Now 
I have letters which I could read to- 
this Convention in support of this 
canal from men who have announced 
their willingness to invest their 
money in it. Continue to work, con- 
tinue to agitate this question if you 
will but stop asking the Government 
for money. 

"Now, gentlemen, you know full 



Held in New Orleans, December 4-7, igoo. 



247 



well that as long as this sediment 
•continues to be carried to the mouth 
of the river, it will accumulate and 
cause tiouble with the result that 
commerce and ships will be unable to 
•enter your port. Gentlemen, we are 
intelligent, and we should show our- 
selves to be such. Even so unpro- 
gressive a people as the Chinese, 
would appreciate the necessity of 
some action in such an important 
matter. Here is an opportunity for 
enterprise! Talk about public spirit! 
Look at what Chicago has accom- 
plished. A canal cut through solid 
stone for miles and miles, making a 
waterway which is the wonder of 
the world, and it is just as possible 
for you to accomplish a similar feat 
if you have only the necessary en- 
ergy to do it. So much for enter- 
prise and public spirit. Had we such 
a canal at New Orleans as the one 
I have described, it would then be 
possible for ships to be floated from 
Lake Michigan down the Mississippi, 



through the canal and direct into the 
Gulf of Mexico, thus permitting the 
commerce of the Mississippi Valley 
to reach without difficulty the mar- 
kets of the world, at the same time 
saving to the producer one-half of 
the present freight now charged on 
ocean tonnage. 

"Gentlemen, I thank you for your 
attention." (Loud applause.) 

Judge Bossier of St. Tammany Par- 
ish, spoke briefly of the salubrity of 
that parish, and its merits as a 
health resort. 

Acting Chairman Story: If there 
is no further business before the 
Convention, as our program has now 
been brought to a conclusion, a mo- 
tion to adjourn is now in order. 

A motion for adjournment was 
then moved and seconded, and Mr. 
Story, at 10:45 P. M., declared the 
Southern Industrial Convention ad- 
journed, sine die. 



Printed by E. S. UPTON, No. 631 Poydras St., New Orleans. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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